Red packaging for a Green future
Efficiency is an intrinsic part of the CAREL solutions: both the means to the end and the end itself. Efficiency is intended as energy savings and added value for the customer’s business, in terms of precision and caring for resources. As part of this approach, CAREL has developed a project with its packaging suppliers to develop certified green packaging.
The new green packaging is just one of the measures designed to make the group’s solutions 100% efficient thanks to the sequencing of the content into the container. Much of the plastic packaging has been replaced by FSC certified cardboard and wooden boxes. Furthermore, CAREL also expects to include FSC certifications in the standards for designing new packaging.
Waste generated by CAREL mainly refers to packaging and scrap from production sites. For this reason, CAREL is committed to selecting logistical packaging and it has launched an overall assessment to identify areas of improvement across the whole production chain, in accordance with the two-year ESG plan.
Through its environmental policy and thanks to its implementation of an environmental management system, CAREL promotes the correct management of waste. In the break areas of its offices and in certain production areas, there are specific bins for the disposal of separated waste.
CAREL and its suppliers have devised a solution for safe and resilient packaging which respects the environment. They have made new coloured packs using a water-based colour, free of acrylic paints and which use starch glues instead of vinyl glues.
Specifically, the red and white colours of the new CAREL packaging are guaranteed by the GREENGUARD Certification Program which certifies that the products inside the packaging comply with the established chemical emission thresholds. CAREL can thus contribute to creating a healthier environment for its employees and customers. The project was trialled at the parent’s headquarters and will be extended to the other production sites, gradually replacing all the group’s existing packaging.
Packaging is also an integral part of CAREL’s R&D activities: starting in 2020, CAREL launched a project to assess the availability of post-consumer recycled (PCR) or post-industrial recycled (PIR) plastics with suitable chemical-physical characteristics which can be used for packaging instead of virgin plastics obtained directly from the fossil-fuel source. Specifically, for the headquarters in Brugine, a solution inspired by circular economy principles is being examined which would recycle the site’s scrap plastics via closed-loop recycling with the suppliers of moulded plastic components (post-industrial recycling).
CAREL has continued to reduce its total waste output generated by manufacturing and especially the mixed packaging waste. It has defined indicators considering total production.
Furthermore, by 2022, CAREL is committed to preparing a catalogue of sustainable packaging. This will include a data collection procedure which analyses the consumption and type of materials used and subsequently suggests and directs towards solutions that increase the use of sustainable raw materials, while committing to reducing the amount of packaging on the market.