Ball Corporation has earned the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Certification for its 23 Europea, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) beverage can plants, marking a major step toward sustainability, the company announced on Thursday.
"As consumers seek more environmentally friendly products, they can have confidence in aluminium's strong sustainability credentials such as responsible sourcing. The certification, combined with our renewable energy investments, demonstrates Ball's commitment to a low-carbon, sustainable economy," said Ron Lewis, President, Ball Beverage Packaging, EMEA.
Ball is the first beverage can manufacturer to meet ASI’s environmental, social and governance principles. Ball earned the certification by significantly reducing carbon emissions, which is now a standard across all of the company’s operations in the European Union, Serbia, and UK. The company has entered into an agreement for 100 percent renewable energy, across all of its operating branches in North America, by 2021.
"We're responding to a greater desire from consumers, across Europe and around the world, for genuinely sustainable and infinitely recyclable packaging solutions," said Kathleen Pitre, Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer, Ball Corporation.
The ASI certification is a multi-stakeholder initiative that provides assurance of responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium throughout its value chain. With the certification, Ball is able to meet consumers’ demand for greater sustainability across packaged goods.
The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative's scheme aims to do for aluminium what the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) did for paper and wood, making sustainability performance a mainstream, visible issue. With the award, Ball has achieved both ASI's Performance, and Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard certifications.
"We are very pleased to award ASI Certification to, Ball Corporation, the world's largest aluminium can maker and the first in its sector to have achieved this," said Dr. Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative. "The ASI's Performance Standard covers critical issues for the entire aluminium value chain."
About Ball
Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2019 net sales of $11.5 billion.
