Sonoco’s Pinckney Paragon rigid plastics facility in Union, US, has received a Bronze Sustainability Star Award in achieving landfill-free status.
The award marks a milestone in landfill-free efforts that have been underway since 2013.
Since then, the Pinckney Paragon plant has diverted 260 loose yards per month away from the landfill in the forms of scrap plastic, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, paper cores, wooden pallets, stretch wrap and banding; an improvement of more than 50%.
“Team members have explored multiple waste streams and developed avenues to recycle, reuse and repurpose. We’ve found that many items we were previously discarding have value, thus making this effort not only good for the environment but good for business, as well,” says plant manager John Babinski.
Administered by Sonoco Recycling, the company’s recycling business, the Sonoco Sustainability Star Awards program comprised three tiers:
•Gold recognizes facilities that have achieved 99% landfill diversion,
•Silver is awarded to facilities achieving 95% landfill diversion, and
•Bronze recognizes facilities that have made significant waste reduction achievements, such as drastically reducing their waste streams or implementing a new composting system.
