CB BureauBall Beverage Packaging India, a leading producer of ‘infinitely recyclable’ aluminium beverage cans, has announced that it has earned Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications for its beverage can-manufacturing plants in Taloja, Maharashtra, and Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The certification, a first in India, indicates that Ball has met ASI’s environmental, social and governance principles.
On this development, Amit Lahoti, senior director and general manager, Ball Beverage Packaging, Asia, said: ‘The ASI certification demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and enables our customers to embrace certified responsible sourcing practises for aluminium. By continuously evaluating and improving the aluminium supply chain, ASI certification will help India to achieve its carbon-reduction targets, to develop a truly circular economy, and to respond to the growing demand from consumers for sustainable packaging.’
ASI is a multi-stakeholder initiative that provides assurance of responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium throughout its value chain. The initiative aims to do for aluminium what the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) did for paper and wood, making sustainability performance a mainstream, visible issue.
Ball’s facilities in Taloja and Sri City join a growing list of its can-making plants that have been certified, starting with all of its EMEA plants in 2020 and extending to its first South American plants in 2021. The ASI Performance Standard is a measure of how much effort Ball is making across its plants to assess, manage and disclose its environmental, social and governance impacts. These include issues such as life-cycle thinking, recycling, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste management, biodiversity, business integrity, and the human rights of both workers and local communities.
The ASI CoC Standard sets out requirements for the creation of a Chain of Custody for material that is produced and processed through the value chain. In Ball’s case, it links verified practices – certified under the ASI Performance Standard – from mining and remelting to casting, rolling, can manufacturing and filling.
With 75% of aluminium ever produced still in use today around the world, aluminium has a vital role in creating a truly circular economy. Aluminium cans are the world’s most recycled beverage package, with recycled metal saving 95% of energy compared to the production of virgin aluminium. Ball is partnering with likeminded organisations in India to increase the collection of used beverage cans and initiate the best methods and actions to achieve a fully circular aluminium beverage packaging system.