Building a Sustainable Future: 2020-Beyond
It may seem uncommon for a packaging company to advocate for waste-free packing—but we’ve never been afraid to set a precedent.
Sonoco has a vision for the next decade and beyond: a path that leads to zero waste. Like our customers, Sonoco sees reducing waste as not just an environmental issue but a bread-and-butter issue for our customers.
“A lot of the sustainability and the improvements that we’re making today are coming through really close joint work with major customers,” says Rodger Fuller, Chief Operating Officer. “It’s really snowballing.” What moves these innovations into the marketplace at high speed, he adds, is a “very close, intimate relationship with the customer.”
We’re making small changes that make big impacts on our institution. In 2022, we installed a rooftop solar array at our warehouse in Dayton, New Jersey. These panels use clean sun energy to produce nearly 1,300 million kilowatt-hours—more than half the electricity the warehouse uses.
Over the panels’ 25-year lifespan, we expect to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions equal to 10,235 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s literally ten thousand tons of change.
Also in 2022, we earned our second consecutive Gold Medal rating from EcoVadis—a leading environmental, social and ethical review agency for global supply chains. And we ranked in Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies for the fourth year straight.
“In a lot of cases, our customers are relying on us to help them understand the sustainability landscape,” says Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President of Global Environmental, Sustainability, and Technical Services. For example, what is or is not sustainable from a packaging perspective?
Likewise, we’re continually pursuing a smaller waste footprint. “We are driving a better life by better environmental outcomes, by having better use of our products, by having better recyclability, better reusability,” Elizabeth says. “It absolutely is a guiding star for us.”
In reducing waste, we have found that seemingly small solutions like our paper containers can address bigger issues. They can reduce energy, increase efficiency and attract customers, investors and employees with shared values. Working toward waste-free packaging is more than smart—it’s the right thing to do.
