Packaging company’s second sustainability report highlights environmental benefits of food cans
With steel recycling rates in North America rising from 15% in 1988 to 71% in 2012, the case for food cans as an environmental packaging solution has never been stronger. Based on the momentum built around the company's inaugural study in 2011, Crown Holdings, Inc. (crowncork.com), recently unveiled its 2013 Sustainability Report, which not only showcases the environmental benefits of steel food cans but also celebrates the culture of sustainability that has defined the company from its earliest days.
The new report is the company’s second review of developments in its sustainability efforts from an economic, environmental and social perspective. It reports that in 2012 alone, more than 1.3 million tons of tinplate steel - the equivalent of 21 billion steel cans - were recycled by the economy as a whole. Further enhancing steel’s sustainability profile is the fact that a package made of recycled steel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 75% over a package made with new steel, with each ton of recycled steel saving 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. As a result, through recycling in 2012, the steel industry saved the energy equivalent to power 20 million homes for one year.