Environmental

We believe that the packaging industry must move beyond the make/use/dispose behaviors of the past and actively work toward, and advocate for, a circular economy. By circulating used plastic and packaging, we keep it in the economy and out of the environment.

Collaboration is essential to achieving a more circular economy, so we work with partners, suppliers and customers who share our vision for a more circular economy.

Much of this work is aligned to that of our partners who have a vision to innovate products and supply chains in environmentally and socially conscious ways. Aptar is an active member of organizations like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy 100 (CE100) Network. Through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we’ve also signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to address plastic waste and pollution at its source. Additionally, Aptar has joined Nextloopp, a project that is comprised to a diverse group of companies with the common goal of creating a circular pathway for recycled Polypropylene (PP) packaging.

Today, we offer a range of products made from post-consumer recycled resin (PCR). We are committed to seeking additional opportunities for more sustainable resins and increasing the recyclability of our products. As we design, develop and innovate our products, our Product Sustainability Team is addressing customer, consumer and regulatory expectations and focusing on being an active and public advocate for the industry transformation and the policy interventions needed to deliver our vision–that all packaging is collected and then recycled.

We are also communicating our targets. As a signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, Aptar has the goal of having our dispensing systems for the beauty, personal care, home care, food and beverage markets be 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Additionally, we commit that a minimum of 10% of our dispensing solutions’ contents will come from recycled materials by 2025 for products sold to these same markets. This target is dependent upon adequate availability of material suitable for our markets, including those requiring regulatory approvals, and customer policies.

We are actively working to identify and qualify new materials, such as PCRs that can be approved for food contact. That is why we have partnered with PureCycle Technologies, a leading innovator in the field of Ultra-Pure Recycled Polypropylene (UPRP). We continue to explore opportunities to source other sustainable resins and are actively collaborating with our customers on refillable products by supporting our customers’ participation in the circular e-commerce platforms such as TerraCycle’s refillable initiative called “Loop.”

We continue to take steps to make our operations more energy efficient and reduce our impact on the environment. We are proud of our grass-roots initiative to make our operating sites “landfill free” (LFF). Our internal LFF Program was one of our first established operational sustainability programs and was developed based on the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZIWA) protocol. This program recognizes sites that reuse or recycle over 90% of their operational waste. We use an independent third-party to audit each location and to verify the certification. At year-end 2020, 53% of our Aptar facilities had achieved LFF certification and all Aptar sites achieved 77% disposal avoidance and in 2021 we improved by adding additional LFF certified sites and recycling more than 80% of wastes from our operations.

Aptar has established science-based targets and is currently one of the many companies taking science-based climate action to keep global temperature increase to well-below 2° Celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures by year 2030. We believe that 100 percent of Aptar locations should be powered by renewable electricity sources. As aligned with our science-based target, Aptar commits reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions and to increase annual sourcing of renewable electricity from 57% of total consumption in 2019 to 100% by 2030. In 2021, we significantly surpassed our renewable energy target, sourcing more than 95% of our global electricity consumption from renewable sources.

Compared to our 2019 baseline, Aptar has made tremendous progress cutting emissions, and is committed to efforts to mitigate climate risks and further the low-carbon economy. This progress is reported annually within our corporate sustainability reports and through global environmental non-profit CDP’s climate change questionnaire. Both of these annual updates are publicly available and accessible. Through significant, demonstrable action on climate change, Aptar is leading on corporate environmental ambition, action, and transparency worldwide.