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External engagement

We engage with industry peers and external stakeholders to sense-check our priorities and gain context. We engage with organizations to build networks, increase knowledge, and get valuable insights and broader perspectives.

Elopak is an active member of various organizations and trade associations, and supports several external initiatives. This helps us stay updated on new developments, interact with other companies, and take an active role on sustainable business development. We collaborate with peers within our industry to facilitate substantial change within the packaging value chain within the time and scale needed vis-a-vis the climate emergency.

As a participant member of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, we work with partners to advance sustainability and support the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are also a member of Ethical Trade Norway. Both Organizations have strong focus on human rights, workers’ rights, social and environmental standards. They provide guidance, training, tools, and capacity building to secure responsible business conduct.

Elopak engages in various industry associations where we gain perspective and share knowledge. Advocating for harmonized policies and synergies within policy domains to ensure a level playing field is important. Collaboration between industry partners across value chains requires a clear governance structure that ensures compliance with competition law. We know continued efforts are necessary to increase consumer awareness, improve national collection schemes, and make recycling facilities as widely available and easily accessible as possible so more people can recycle.

Memberships

We are a member of trade associations and work with non-governmental and international
organizations, certification bodies, and multi-stakeholder initiatives to promote sustainable practices and continuously improve our products and transparency practices.

  • The UN Global Compact (UNGC) is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more than 12 000 participants. It acts as a universal call to companies to align their operations and strategies. It includes ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption, whilst encouraging member parties to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the SDGs.
  • FSC™ – Forest Stewardship Council™, is working to ensure sustainable forest management practices globally.
  • ISCC – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, is working to ensure sustainable practices behind renewable feedstocks for plastics.
  • ASI – Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, is a global non-profit standard-setting and certification organization. The organization aims to maximize the contribution of aluminum to a sustainable society. Members include producers, users, and stakeholders in the aluminum value chain.
  • RE100 – Is a global initiative of companies committing to sourcing 100% renewable electricity.
  • Ethical Trade Norway – Is a Norwegian member-based, non-governmental organization and resource center for sustainable business practice and trade.
  • EcoVadis – Is the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, with a global network of more than 75,000 rated companies.
  • Sedex – Is one of the world’s leading ethical trade service providers.
  • ACE – The Alliance for beverage Cartons and the Environment, is a European industry association working to benchmark and profile cartons as renewable, recyclable, and low-carbon packaging solutions.
  • GRACE – The Global Recycling Alliance for beverage cartons and the Environment, is a global industry association.
  • EXTR:ACT – Drives value from multi-material recycling in several countries, we have similar industry associations.
  • Carton Council – An industry association working to drive carton recycling in North America.
  • 4Evergreen – A new industry initiative which is working to boost the contribution of fiber-based packaging in a circular economy.
  • HolyGrail 2.0 – a cross-value chain initiative working to improve packaging recycling through the use of pioneering digital watermarks.

Certifications

  • All but one of Elopak’s factories are certified according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Our plant in Dammam will be FSC Certified during 2023. This enables us to offer FSC labeled cartons and to ensure that all the forestry behind our cartons are managed responsibly.
  • Several of Elopak’s factories are certified according to ISCC PLUS (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification), which enables us to offer cartons featuring certified renewable polyethylene (polymers).
  • Elopak Group is certified according to PAS 2060 for carbon neutrality.
  • All but two of Elopak’s factories have ISO 9001 certification, the remaining two expected to be certified in 2024. Some of our plants also have ISO 14001 certification. This ensures good management practices and a strong environmental focus, and best practice is spread to other non-certified sites.
  • Some of Elopak’s factories have ISO 45000/ OHSAS 18001 certification to verify good Health & Safety practices. This is an addition to our internal safety policies and practices, which are based on the ISO framework. We aim for all plants to be certified over the coming years.