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    Sustainable glass packaging company
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Responsible behaviour globally

Sustainability deals with global and regional issues concerning emissions, ecology and social responsibilities, Ardagh's sustainability pillars. In 2020, we launched our new Sustainability Strategy to reinforce our commitment to the circular economy. As part of our strategy, we have mapped out ambitious commitments and targets for the next decade. Our targets continue to focus on CO₂​ reduction and maximising the use of recycled materials

Both metal and glass are permanent materials and are therefore infinitely recyclable without any loss of properties. As part of functional engagements with our customers, our team addresses key sustainability challenges such as climate change, water stewardship and responsible sourcing. Below, please find our latest sustainability news along with our 2020 environmental data including 2030 targets.

Coverage of plants with certified management systems 2019 - 2021

95%, 2020 - 90%, 2019 - 93% sustainable glass packaging

Environmental
e.g. ISO 14001

60%, 2020 - 59%, 2019 - 61% glass packaging manufacturers

Health & Safety
e.g. ISO 45001

52%, 2020 - 53%, 2019 - 55% glass bottles & jars

Energy
e.g. ISO 50001

86%, 2020 - 86%, 2019 - 89% sustainable packaging company

Quality and Food Safety
e.g. ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000

Sustainability news

Ardagh Group to build NextGen Furnace

23 May 2023

Ardagh Glass GmbH, part of Ardagh Glass Packaging (AGP) - Europe, recently began construction on a groundbreaking hybrid furnace to enable a switch to renewable electricity at its glass production facility in Obernkirchen, Germany. The hybrid technology in the aptly named ‘NextGen’ furnace will lead to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, by as much as 60% in the furnace – an important step in achieving the emissions target of Ardagh’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy and a key milestone in its journey towards decarbonisation.

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Efficient Furnace unveiled for Ardagh UK

18 May 2023

Ardagh Glass Packaging (AGP) - UK is building a highly sustainable ’Efficient Furnace’ that will minimise greenhouse gas emissions from the glass production process. The state-of-the-art furnace, which will be installed at the AGP – Doncaster, UK Facility, employs the latest industrial technology to provide a more efficient melter with significantly reduced gas consumption and carbon emissions.

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Electric forklifts replace diesel models

13 Mar 2023

Four new electric forklift trucks have replaced diesel forklifts at the AGP – Europe facility in Bad Munder, Germany.

For the first time in AGP – Europe’s operation, lithium iron phosphate forklifts, with a lifting capacity of five tons, are being used for loading the facility’s glass containers.

The highly efficient forklift trucks run on a fast-charging battery and require very little maintenance, resulting in reduced loading times as well as reduced carbon emissions.

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Ardagh Poland's sustainable technology

25 Jan 2023

Ardagh Glass Packaging - Europe (AGP - Europe) has designed its newest glass furnace in Poland with the latest available suite of sustainable technology for reducing emissions and improving energy and resource efficiency. Ceramic Candle Filter technology and a Continuous Emission Monitoring System have been installed to achieve and maintain low emission levels while gas, electricity and water consumption will be reduced through a combination of heat recovery, turbo compressors, water recovery and a closed loop cooling system.

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2023 International Day of Education

24 Jan 2023

We are giving back in the communities where our employees live and work by investing in education in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education. To celebrate 2023 International Day of Education, we share an update on our global social sustainability initiative, Ardagh for Education.

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Click here for more of our sustainability news

Our sustainability pillars

Our sustainability strategy is based on taking a proactive approach to our three ‘Pillars of Sustainability’ – Ecology, Emissions and Social. We aim to minimise our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reduce our ecological impact and support our people and our communities.

We take sustainability seriously and we strive to achieve change and implement initiatives to be rewarding on all levels. We are committed to adopting Science-Based Targets.

We are also rated A- by CDP for climate change and water management and A for supplier engagement. We actively promote and support community engagement across our organisation, with a particular focus on educational development in all communities in which we operate.

We track, monitor and measure our sustainability progress to ensure we deliver on our commitments.

Sustainability accreditations

Sedex logo
2021 Evovadis Platinum CSR Rating
Corporate Responsibility Prime - rated by ISS ESG
ASI Certified Performance


*Ratings for Ardagh Glass Packaging

B Climate Change
B Water Management
A- Supplier Engagement

Policies and standards

Ardagh is committed to conducting its activities with the highest standards of integrity and business practice in all dealings with its stakeholders. We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and to operating in an ethical, sustainable and honest way. The below policies guide our business and those with whom we work.

Sustainability associations

Abralatas logo ASI Global Partitions logo Can Manufacturers Institute logo Container Recycling Institute logo Europen logo
FEVE logo Glass Packaging Institute logo Glass Recycling Coalition Member Glass Recycling Foundation Donor Metal Packaging Europe logo UN Global Impact logo
Environmental Sustainability in Glass Packaging

Protecting our environment

The impact of what we do and how we behave is far-reaching. Production on a scale such as ours brings enormous environmental responsibilities, and we take these seriously, both globally and locally. That is why we identify, control and measure all our activities, and work hard to reduce their environmental impact. We aim to keep energy consumption and emissions to a minimum, maximise our recycling rates, optimise the use of secondary packaging materials and manage waste appropriately, by avoiding use of landfills and limiting water usage.

Metal and glass are both permanent materials. They form part of the ‘circular economy’ – where materials can be infinitely recycled in a closed loop without any loss of quality. As a result, metal and glass are regarded as ‘permanently available’. The materials are not lost as long as they are recycled into another metal or glass product. Ardagh initiatives that focus on recycling – both of our source materials and within our facilities themselves – showcase our commitment to energy efficiency. Effective environmental management systems are in place across all Ardagh sites.

Material consumption 2019 - 2021

6,668,188 MT of material melted 2020 - 6,268,522 | 2019 - 6,479,660
5,662,782 MT of material packed 2020 - 5,346,165 | 2019 - 5,532,760
66,954 MT of raw steel used 2020 - 60,842 | 2019 - 62,859
633,253 MT of raw alu used 2020 - 592,213 | 2019 - 570,379

Energy consumption 2019 - 2021

3,275,595 MWh electricity consumed 2020 - 3,136,873 | 2019 - 3,055,394
2,444,827 Glass 2020 - 2,372,786 | 2019 - 2,309,028
830,768 Metal 2020 - 764,086 | 2019 - 746,365
9,997,477 MWh fossil fuels consumed 2020 - 10,435,931 | 2019 - 9,879,969
9,263,466 Glass 2020 - 9,761,729 | 2019 - 9,193,962
734,011 Metal 2020 - 674,202 | 2019 - 686,007

Water withdrawal 2019 - 2021

5,855,373 m3 municipal water supply 2020 - 5,826,707 | 2019 - 6,328,990
1,918,065 m3 groundwater 2020 - 1,865,649 | 2019 - 1,828,193
554,625 m3 surface water 2020 - 586,522 | 2019 - 688,676
8,328,063 m3 total water withdrawal 2020 - 8,278,878 | 2019 - 8,845,859

Greenhouse gas emissions 2019 - 2021

2,480,614 t (tonnes) direct CO2e (Scope 1) 2020 - 2,422,025 | 2019 - 2,450,792
2,332,576 Glass 2020 - 2,285,266
2019 - 2,312,070
148,038 Metal 2020 - 136,759
2019 - 138,721
933,743 t (tonnes) indirect CO2e (Scope 2) 2020 - 1,075,758 | 2019 - 1,065,483
739,250 Glass 2020 - 865,535
2019 - 856,399
194,493 Metal 2020 - 210,223
2019 - 209,084
4,037,074 t (tonnes) other indirect CO2e (Scope 3) 2020 - 4,116,929 | 2019 - 4,270,740
1,268,124 Glass 2020 - 1,278,911
2019 - 1,042,617
2,768,950 Metal 2020 - 2,838,018
2019 - 3,228,123

Total greenhouse gas emissions 2019 - 2021

7,451,431 t (tonnes) CO2e (Scope 1 + 2 + 3) 2020 - 7,614,712 | 2019 - 7,787,015

Waste 2019 - 2021

77,160 Total waste MT 2020 - 66,494 | 2019 - 66,109
65%, 2020 - 62%, 2019 - 61%

Recycled Waste

35%, 2020 - 38%, 2019 - 39%

Disposed Waste

22%, 2020 - 25%, 2019 - 27%

Share of Hazardous Waste

14,137 Total weight of hazardous waste MT 2020 - 13,397 | 2019 - 14,093
63,023 Total weight of non-hazardous waste MT 2020 - 53,097 | 2019 - 52,016

Our employees 2019 - 2021

16,4125 Number of direct Employees (Globally) 2020 - 16,443 | 2019 - 16,340
73%, 2020 - 80%, 2019 - 81%

Employees covered by formal collective agreements concerning working conditions.

100%, 2020 - 44%, 2019 - 82%

Employees represented in formal joint management-worker health & safety committees

70%, 2020 - 57%, 2019 - 91%

Employees covered by formally-elected employee representatives

53%, 2020 - 47%, 2019 - 56%

Employees received regular performance and career development reviews

96%, 2020 - 97%, 2019 - 98%

Global Management annual performance and career development reviews

Workforce gender chart Male - 85% Female - 15%

16% of line managers are female.
2% of the global workforce are minorities.
95% of permanent employees

Accident reporting 2019 - 2021

0.45 Lost time accidents 2020 - 0.35 | 2019 - 0.47
1.55 Recordable accident rate 2020 - 1.25 | 2019 - 1.52
36.1 Severity rate 2020 - 35.9 | 2019 - 51.2
0 Fatalities 2020 - 3 | 2019 - 0

Cases/100 full-time employees

Sustainable supply chain 2021

100%

Contracts with sustainability clauses

100%

Critical category suppliers with a CSR risk analysis

100%

Procurement category managers trained in prevention of human exploitation

100%

Suppliers who shared data on conflict minerals

Social Sustainability

Building a sustainable future

We recognise that emissions, ecology and social sustainability are closely linked and that the long-term economic performance of Ardagh has an impact on our employees, local communities, customers, suppliers, investors and other stakeholders. That’s why we continually invest in systems and processes that improve the efficiency of our operations, reduce costs and increase competitiveness. One initiative, for instance, promotes customer and supplier partnership programmes in order to strengthen relationships along the supply chain.

Another initiative led us to develop a sophisticated process of preheating our glass raw materials to give energy savings of up to 15%. The system, which heats the batch to 300°C, cost in the region of €2m per site and so far has been introduced in five facilities, with a further three planned over the coming years. This investment in environmentally friendly systems forms part of our long-term sustainability strategy.

Targets for 2030

2030 Targets

Plant
Waste Icon
Waste

AMP:
Zero waste to landfill 1
by 2025

AGP:
Zero waste to landfill 1
by 2030

Water Icon
Water usage

AMP:
20% intensity reduction
by 2030

AGP:
26% intensity reduction
by 2030

Greenhouse Gas Icon
Greenhouse gas

AMP & AGP:
100% renewable electricity by 2030
42% absolute Scope 1+2 reduction by 2030 *
12.3% absolute Scope 3 reduction by 2030 *

* Approved by Science Based Targets initiative

Emissions Icon
Emissions

AMP:
10% VOC emission intensity
reduction by 2030

AGP:
23% NOx emission intensity
reduction by 2030

1 Zero to waste landfill for operational waste streams where allowable by regulation

Permanent materials are classified as materials that once produced can be infinitely recycled or reused without any loss of quality