Graham Packaging Commits to 100% Reusable, Recyclable or Compostable Packaging by 2025

Considered a global leader in the design, manufacture and sale of technology-based, customized blow-molded plastic containers for a variety of branded markets, including food and beverage, household, personal care and automotive lubricants.  Graham Packaging, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. The agreement states that by 2025 100% of its plastic packaging can be reused, recycled or composted. Graham Packaging joins hundreds of the world’s leading brands that also signed this pledge. We have been reporting on various brands that have taken this step for the last three years. 

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment focuses on three actions to achieve a circular economy for plastic to ensure it never becomes waste. They include:

 ▪  Eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and moving from single-use to reusable packaging models

 ▪  Ensuring 100% of plastic packaging can be easily and safely reused, recycled or composted by 2025

 ▪  Circulating the plastic produced by significantly increasing the amount of plastics reused or recycled and made into new packaging or products.

The Graham Packaging Global Sustainability Committee will lead the charge in helping the company reach these goals. Graham Packaging currently uses more than 100 million pounds of PCR annually. The Graham Recycling Center – one of the largest of its kind in the northeast – recycles 50 million pounds or approximately 378 million plastic containers, from curbside recycling programs each year.

Said Tracee Reeves, head of sustainability and chief general counsel, Graham Packaging “Since its founding nearly five decades ago, Graham Packaging has been dedicated to the design and manufacturing of environmentally friendly plastic packaging solutions. This new commitment will bring together all of our resources to reduce global waste and help our customers reach their sustainability goals.”

Headquartered in Lancaster, Penn., with its flagship manufacturing facility in nearby York, Graham Packaging produces more than 16 billion container units annually at almost 70 plants in North America, Asia, Europe and South America. In 2011, the company was acquired by Reynolds Group Holdings, a leading global manufacturer and supplier of consumer food and beverage packaging and storage products.