Significance
Importance To Berry Global and our Stakeholders
An efficient waste management program underscores our dedication to environmental stewardship, regulatory compliance, and responsible growth. By implementing robust waste management strategies, we help effectively reduce our environmental impact and further our reputation as a responsible industry leader.
Our Customers: Effective waste management aligns with our customers’ commitments, provides them with direct benefits through increased operational efficiency, and helps build consumer brand trust among end users.
Our Investors: Waste management is not only a matter of environmental concern; it also impacts productivity and risk management processes. Through our commitments to waste reduction and sustainable waste management, we increase our long-term viability of our ability to navigate regulatory challenges and improve operational efficiency.
Our Approach
In addition to our work relating to the end-of-life scenarios for our products, we recognize the importance of mitigating the environmental impact of waste created within our direct operations. Our approach to managing operational waste is consistent with our commitment to sustainability. We focus on minimizing waste generation through efficient production practices, resource use reduction, and employee training. Where waste cannot be avoided, we strive to keep it at the highest possible economic value according to the waste management hierarchy - an industry-recognized, best practice for minimizing the impact of waste on the environment.
Our waste management approach also includes our participation in Operation Clean Sweep®, a global initiative dedicated to preventing plastic resin loss. By implementing our internal Operation Clean Sweep program, we help share resin handling best practices and address hotspots for resin loss.
Highlights and Target Progress
| Target | 2023 Progress |
| Reduce landfill waste intensity 5% per year |
Our landfill waste intensity increased 4.7% year-over-year. We continue to encourage our sites to embark on a zero waste-to-landfill journey and monitor progress. |
| Prevent resin loss through OCS | 100% of facilities completed internal Operation Clean Sweep audits. |
*Normalized for production (MT of waste to landfill as a percentage of MT of production)
Key Metrics
The below metrics are based on Berry's Fiscal Years unless otherwise noted.
|
Operational Waste Management |
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| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | ||||
| Waste Generation¹ | Amount and Percentage of Total Waste | |||||
| MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | |
| Non-Hazardous Waste | 85,666 | 94% | 116,064 | 93% | 102,687 | 93% |
| Hazardous Waste | 5,953 | 6% | 8,406 | 7% | 7,464 | 7% |
| Total Waste | 91,619 | 100% | 124,470 | 100% | 110,151 | 100% |
| Non-Hazardous Waste Disposal¹ | Amount and Percentage of Total Non-Hazardous Waste | |||||
| MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | |
| Total Diverted from Disposal | 61,417 | 71% | 83,265 | 72% | 67,236 | 65% |
| Reuse | No Data | - | 8,054 | 7% | 5,452 | 5% |
| Recycling | 57,743 | 67% | 70,872 | 61% | 56,897 | 55% |
| Other Diversion | 3,674 | 4% | 4,339 | 4% | 4,887 | 5% |
| Total Disposed | 24,248 | 28% | 32,799 | 28% | 35,452 | 35% |
| Incineration | 121 | <1% | 1,908 | 2% | 3,049 | 3% |
| Energy Recovery | 2,405 | 3% | 6,118 | 5% | 8,788 | 9% |
| Landfill | 21,722 | 25% | 24,773 | 21% | 23,615 | 23% |
| Total Non-Hazardous Waste | 85,666 | 100% | 116,064 | 100% | 102,687 | 100% |
| Hazardous Waste Disposal¹ | Amount and Percentage of Total Hazardous Waste | |||||
| MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | |
| Total Diverted from Disposal | 4,919 | 83% | 5,505 | 66% | 4,282 | 57% |
| Recycling | 2,954 | 50% | 3,697 | 44% | 2,540 | 34% |
| Other Diversion | 1,965 | 33% | 1,808 | 22% | 1,742 | 23% |
| Total Disposed | 1,034 | 17% | 2,901 | 34% | 3,182 | 43% |
| Incineration | 276 | 4% | 410 | 5% | 269 | 4% |
| Energy Recovery | 753 | 13% | 1,922 | 23% | 2,440 | 33% |
| Landfill | 5 | 0% | 569 | 7% | 472 | 6% |
| Total Hazardous Waste | 5,953 | 100% | 8,406 | 100% | 7,464 | 100% |
| Total Waste Disposal¹ | Amount and Percentage of Total Waste | |||||
| MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | MT | Percentage | |
| Total Diverted from Disposal | 66,336 | 72% | 88,770 | 71% | 71,518 | 65% |
| Reuse | No Data | - | 8,054 | 7% | 5,452 | 5% |
| Recycling | 60,697 | 66% | 74,569 | 60% | 59,437 | 54% |
| Other Diversion | 5,639 | 6% | 6,147 | 4% | 6,629 | 6% |
| Total Disposed | 25,282 | 27% | 35,700 | 29% | 38,633 | 35% |
| Incineration | 397 | <1% | 2,318 | 2% | 3,318 | 3% |
| Energy Recovery | 3,158 | 3% | 8,040 | 7% | 11,228 | 10% |
| Landfill | 21,727 | 24% | 25,342 | 20% | 24,087 | 22% |
| Total Waste | 5,953 | 100% | 124,470 | 100% | 110,151 | 100% |
| Waste to Landfill¹ | Amount and Landfill Waste Intensity² | |||||
| MT | Intensity | MT | Intensity | MT | Intensity | |
| Landfill Waste | 21,727 | 0.70% | 25,342 | 0.64% | 24,087 | 0.67% |
| Number and Percentage of Total Facilities | ||||||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Zero Waste to Landfill Facilities³ | 32 | 11% | 37 | 14% | 38% | 16% |
|
Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) |
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| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | ||||
| Internal OCS Auditing | Number of Audits | |||||
| Global Audits Completed | 469 | 1369 | 1392 | |||
| Number and Percentage of Facilities | ||||||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Facility Audit Coverage | 146 | 60% | 247 | 93% | 230 | 100% |
| Facility Directors completing OCS training | 230 | 87% | 265 | 100% | 230 | 100% |
| Spillage Incidents | Number | |||||
| Number of Spillage Incidents | 690 | 88 | 75 | |||
| Amount of Resin (MT) | ||||||
| Resin Spillage Recovered | 49 | 16 | 15 | |||
| Resin Spillage Lost | <0.07 | <0.01 | <0.02 | |||
2. Landfill Waste Intensity is tracked as a percentage of total MT Landfill Waste per MT of production.
Key Strategies
To achieve our Impact 2025 goal of a 5% annual reduction in landfill waste intensity, reducing waste generation is key. Then, when waste is unavoidable, we prioritize avenues of diversion away from disposal, such as reuse and recycling. Disposal of our waste materials into landfill, at the bottom of the hierarchy, is only considered when all other preferred options have been eliminated.
Waste Generation
In accordance with our waste management hierarchy, our ultimate priority is to reduce the amount of waste generated across our business through improvements to plant processes, efficiency, and material sourcing.
In 2023, we produced around 110,000 MT of operational waste, 93% of which is non-hazardous. This represents a reduction on the amount of waste generated in 2022, our first year tracking waste generation across the full business. This reduction highlights the efforts undertaken across the business and we will continue our strategy to reduce the amount generated in 2024.
Waste is gold program
The Waste is Gold program helps challenge status quo ways of thinking with Waste Champions at each site who collaborate with their team on creative solutions and share them on the wasteisgold.net shared site. These best practices are shared between sites to drive key projects in waste reduction and collaboration.
Waste Diversion and Disposal
Where waste generation cannot be reduced, we aim to find ways in which the waste can be diverted from disposal through recycling and reuse. Where diversion is not possible, we prioritize energy recovery from incineration over landfill; however, both are considered undesirable options, with our focus being on the top of the waste hierarchy. Incineration without energy recovery and disposal of our waste materials into landfill are only considered when all other preferred options have been eliminated.
The main focus of our waste diversion strategy is recycling. All manufacturing sites have an internal focus on regrinding and recycling operational waste, and for non-operational, or waste that cannot be reground internally, facilities are encouraged as part of our waste management strategy to explore and implement potential recycling streams. As a global company, we recognize that recycling infrastructure is underdeveloped in many regions where our facilities operate, and we are actively collaborating with local companies to help ensure waste can be recycled.
To help achieve our goal of a 5% annual reduction in landfill waste intensity, we encourage all sites to embark on a zero waste-to-landfill journey, defined internally as diverting over 90% of waste away from disposal, with less than 1% of waste being disposed via landfill. Facilities can self-certify against this criterion or aim to achieve an external zero waste-to-landfill certification, where zero waste-to-landfill may have an alternate definition.
In 2023, 65% of our waste was diverted away from disposal. Moreover, only 22% of our waste ended up in landfill. Unfortunately, landfill waste intensity increased by 4.7% year-over-year – falling short of our 5% reduction target. However, landfill waste intensity still remains considerably lower than 2019 levels. 38 sites demonstrated they were zero waste-to landfill – which now represents 16% of manufacturing facilities.
Zero Waste-to-Landfill Facilities
We are proud of our facilities that have achieved zero waste-to-landfill recognition, either by meeting internal criterion or achieving an external certification. Through efficient resource management, the 38 facilities listed below have achieved this recognition in 2023 and are making a positive impact on our environmental footprint.
| Aberdare, UK Atlacomulco, Mexico Bengaluru, India Dombuhl, Germany Hardenberg, Netherlands Jundiai, Brazil Maldon, UK Philippsburg, Germany Saint Georges de Reneins, France Suffolk, USA Worcester, UK Lenhausen, Germany |
Ardeer, UK Baltimore, USA Biesheim, France Corby, UK Frankenthal, Germany Heanor, UK Leominster, UK Nanhai, China Rhymney, UK Sirone, Italy Suzhou, China Zele, Belgium Zell, Germany |
Aschersleben, Germany |
Operation Clean Sweep
In 2021, we introduced an OCS-aligned 7-step system across our global facilities to help eliminate the risk of resin loss to the environment. The system fosters commitment and accountability from all employees. It also builds a thorough corrective action plan around a quarterly risk-focused resin management audit. This audit assesses each aspect of resin handling on-site against the potential risk of a spill occurring, in line with the official OCS guidelines to confirm all necessary infrastructure, procedures, and awareness programs are in place. Additionally, we have implemented procedures so that if a spill does take place, it is cleaned and reported appropriately, with root cause analysis and corrective actions taken to help prevent potential future spills.
In 2023, 1,392 resin management audits were completed across our business, with 100% of our resin-handling facilities completing at least one audit. Both statistics show improvement from 2022, and by completing internal audits we can mitigate the risk of resin being spilled on-site, and eliminate the risk of resin escaping into the environment.
Across Berry, there were 75 spillage incidents, which we define internally as any spills that are both over 0.5kg (1lb) and either have, or have the potential to, escape the site boundary at any time during the spill. Even if all resin from the spill is contained and recovered, the spill must be recorded, together with an incident report and corrective action plan. These spill incidents totalled around 16 metric tons of resin. Per our procedures, the majority of these spills were contained and recovered without incident. Less than 0.02 metric tons of resin were lost from our facilities during 2023, and incident reports and corrective action plans were completed in coordination with local environmental authorities where necessary. We have the continued goal of zero resin loss.
Beccles, England
One of our facilities in Beccles, England has led the way in implementing the Operation Clean Sweep program, delivering low-risk audit scores each quarter over the last two years. Alongside the installation of required OCS infrastructure to prevent and contain spills, the facility has created a culture of accountability among the employees for any spills that occur.
Analysis from the initial audit undertaken at the facility identified areas of improvement, after which the site’s OCS leaders worked with the relevant departments to implement corrective actions, such as the installation of drain covers at the appropriate areas, bunds on site boundaries, and cleaning stations across the facility. Once all physical infrastructure updates were in place, the site created a personalized pledge-board for all employees to sign as a confirmation of their commitment to prevent resin from escaping from the facility. In addition, the site ran staff engagement training, implemented cleaning schedules, and installed OCS signage for both employees and external visitors.
By implementing improvements in infrastructure, procedure, and engagement, employees have drastically reduced any risk of resin escaping from the facility and have shared best practices with other facilities across our operations to help optimize Berry’s OCS journey.
Disclosures
Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
With efficient waste management practices, we prevent pollution that could impact water bodies, reducing the potential negative impact on aquatic ecosystems and water sanitation.
Effective waste management can significantly reduce waste generation within urban environments, reducing pressure on urban waste infrastructure. By effectively managing our waste, we play our part in mitigating potential impacts and alleviating waste-related stress.
Waste management is a core element of responsible production and consumption. By Diverting our waste away from disposal through recycling and reuse, we mitigate negative environmental impacts, reduce waste accumulation, and promote efficient resource utilization.
Appropriate waste management directly addresses marine pollution and helps preserve marine life and ecosystems. We are committed to reducing marine litter through waste reduction initiatives and ensuring resin is handled correctly and does not end up in the marine environment.
By implementing effective waste management systems, we reduce mismanaged and landfilled waste, which is crucial for preserving land ecosystems and protecting habitats.
We foster collaborative waste management efforts involving industry, governments, and consumers to help drive efficient waste management practices and encourage responsible consumption.
GRI and SASB Alignment
GRI 306(3-3) WasteGRI 306-1 Waste Generation and Significant Waste-Related Impacts
GRI 306-2 Management of Significant Waste-Related Impacts
GRI 306-3 Waste Generated
GRI 306-4 Waste Diverted from Disposal
GRI 306-5 Waste Directed to Disposal
SASB RT-CP-150a.1 Amount of Hazardous Waste Generated, Percentage Recycled
Last Updated: March 19th 2024