Graphic Packaging reports rising post-consumer content

Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging recently released its 2024 Impact Report, in which the company showed mixed results surrounding its sustainability targets.

The share of post-consumer content used in the company’s products rose for the fourth consecutive year, to 53%, higher by 2 points from 2023, according to the report. In 2021, this measure was listed as being greater than 35%, but a specific number was not reported. Purchases of recovered fiber rose slightly on the year to 1.223 million metric tons, or 0.7%, but still were lower by 3% from 2022.

All told, recovered fiber represented 11% of Graphic Packaging’s total forest product purchases. 

While the share of 100% recycled paperboard products in the company’s mix was flat on the year at 34%, it remains higher than the starting point of 26% in 2021. In addition, of the remainder of the company’s products, some include up to 10% recycled content. 

The company produced 1.162 million metric tons of recycled paperboard products in fiscal 2024, down by 2.7% on the year and by 4% from fiscal 2022, when the company began quantifying the measure. 

The company reported a total of 918,800 metric tons of paperboard recovered from its operations, higher by 0.5% on the year but higher by 60% from 2021. However, the percentage of generated paperboard scrap used internally dropped by 11 points on the year to 42%. 

Still, cuttings and paperboard scraps from Graphic Packaging plants supplied 19% of the total recovered fiber inputs, and the remaining 81% was from purchased pre- and post-consumer recovered fiber, the report said. Post-consumer fiber represented about 53% of total recovered fiber raw materials, and 59% of the fiber raw materials used in the recycled paperboard manufacturing facilities.

Meanwhile, the share of paperboard scrap recovered for recycling was at 99.8%, 1.8 points higher on the year and 8.8 points higher than in 2021. As for other recovered materials, volumes dropped by more than half, to 59,600 metric tons – lower by 61% on the year. 

The company also highlighted its “nearly complete” recycled paperboard plant in Waco, Texas, where “we are poised to enhance efficiency by recycling internally generated waste into new packaging solutions.” The new plant is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year, and is a piece of Graphic Packaging’s strategy to localize supply chains. 

In addition to reporting its 2024 recycling progress, the company noted it is engaged in partnerships with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and Clemson University to address the challenges of food residue on post-consumer packaging, as well as to help define industry standards for SPC’s How2Recycle labeling acceptance.