What we Achieved this Past Year, and What our Goals are for the Future

By: Catherine Haub

This past year, we released our first-ever sustainability to showcase what we have been able to accomplish this year and what our goals are for the upcoming year. In this article, we will go through the different parts of our sustainability report and showcase the areas where we have excelled, and what areas we set our goals for the upcoming year.
Our report starts with our guiding statement to indicate what we are striving for as a company and sets the tone as to what to expect in the report. We set our sustainability goals based on what is going on in the world around us, such as the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development goals. We then move into a statement from our CEO and Chairman Dan Mohs where he discusses how important sustainability is to the company, reflecting on past advancements and what the company intends to do to keep the sustainability engine rolling. We then go over our sustainability timeline which includes our major advancements such as switching our BlisterBox to PET in 1991 and opening our recycling facility in 2012. This is a great way to show that we have been consistently working towards more sustainable packaging options for our customers while also maintaining great quality.
The next portion of the report goes into more detail as to what we did in 2022 in terms of facility upgrades and what we are doing within the facility to lessen our impact. This area includes our goal of going Zero Net Waste, utilizing energy from solar panels, and upgrades around the facility to increase energy efficiency. Saving energy is very important to lessen the negative impact on the planet, and these are ways we can ensure we are playing our role in energy reduction.

We then move into how we circulate and reuse materials throughout the facility. We are very lucky to have our recycling facility and are looking to expand it within the next few years to increase the number of recyclables that we can take in. We then move into talking about OxyStar, the first-ever recyclable barrier material. Other barrier materials cannot be recycled, and with how important they are in reducing food waste, we wanted to find a more sustainable option. The next portion of the report goes into our post-consumer recycled material certification which we have with our 75% and 100% PCR materials. This SCS Certification shows that our materials that are marketed as made with 75% or 100% PCR material truly are made with that amount of recycled material.
Another important aspect of sustainability is regenerative nature and engaging with the community, which is the next portion of the report. Here we include what we are doing to better the community around us such as our donations to United Way and other charities along with an art contest we hosted at Hamilton Middle School where we asked students to illustrate what the environment would look like if we took care of it. We then mention our efforts with OneTreePlanted where we were able to plant 20,000 trees.
The next section includes our awards and accomplishments, which include the AmeriStar award for Sustainable design, which our Tray Pal won this year. We also include past WorldStar award-winning products such as our Homefresh Entree containers. We then move into other accomplishments we made this year, like our Placonomics sustainability blog and the environmental savings calculator. We want to promote resources to help our customers gain information on laws and regulations across the country and globe and let them know the positive impact they are making when they choose our packaging.
The end of our report explains what our goals are for the upcoming year and beyond. We have made a lot of progress when it comes to practicing sustainably, but there’s always room for improvement. By 2024, we want to introduce a 25% PCR polypropylene material, a major move as PCR polypropylene material is hard to find. By 2025, we plan on having all of our facilities be Zero Net Waste and want to increase the amount of ocean-bound clear bales that go through our recycling facility 2025. We also want to replace any PVC or PS stock food and retail packaging with PET, making the packaging easier to recycle. To be more involved with the community, we want to want to promote recycling through internships, programs, and awards with local schools and universities so they can learn more about the importance of recycling and the impact it can make.
We want to be as transparent as possible with our customers, and through our sustainability report, we can truly show how important practicing sustainably is to us. To learn more about what we did over the past year and what our goals are for this year, we recommend reading through our report. We are very proud of the accomplishments we made this year, and will continue the hard work for the years to come!

ABOUT PLACON
For 55 years, Placon has been a leading designer and manufacturer of custom and stock plastic packaging for the food, medical, and retail markets. Placon has manufacturing operations in Madison, WI; Elkhart, IN; Plymouth, MN; and West Springfield, MA, and currently ranked in Plastics News 2020 Thermoformers Ranking Top 20. Placon delivers packaging breakthroughs that inspire better engagement between people and products with industry leading innovation and award-winning packaging designs. For more information, visit www.placon.com.