Reducing Waste

Maximizing circularity in our material usage.
Manufacturing plant with sign that says Crown Bevcan Turkiye with mountains
Crown Bevcan Turkey received a Zero Waste certificate awarded by the Turkish government

As a global manufacturer, we have an important role to play in reducing our operational waste and supporting the Circular Economy. For decades, our sites around the world have practiced effective waste management, focusing on reducing, reusing and recycling as much waste as possible. When those steps are not possible, we apply controls and treatment technologies to prevent human health effects and minimize environmental impacts of disposal. 

Every Crown facility around the world tracks and reports the amount of operational waste it generates and how it is managed. Since requirements for disposal vary from country to country, waste reporting is done at the local business level, and documentation is supplied by the waste contractor or the facility itself. Due to these global differences, we continue to work with our waste management suppliers to improve the collection of data against waste categories in a reliable and consistent way.

In our metal packaging facilities, steel and aluminum represent about 85% of our incoming materials. Significant effort is made to capture, recover and recycle nearly 100% of our metal waste globally. To process the remainder of our waste, which includes items such as pallets, shrink wrap and cores from our metal coils, we take every step possible to divert it from landfills by reusing, recycling or generating energy. 

Effective waste management is an important component of our goals for world-class manufacturing and sustainability. That is why one of the goals in the Optimum Circularity pillar of our Twentyby30 program is to send zero waste from our operations to landfill. That goal is based on several key strategies, including:

  • Improving processes, equipment and materials to reduce waste generation.
  • Continuing to send less waste to landfill globally by maximizing the use of environmentally beneficial disposal methods like recycling, composting and waste-to-energy.
  • Collaborating with suppliers to reduce waste across the value chain.

Our Sustainability Stories: Progress in Practice

Brazil

In Brazil, our team works to divert its nonmetal waste (i.e., pallets, shrink wrap and metal coil cores) from landfills through recycling, co-processing, composting and refining. As of November 2020, 100% of Crown’s beverage can plants in Brazil are zero waste to landfill. This achievement makes it the first Division in our global network to reach this milestone.

Turkey

Our beverage can operations in Izmit and Osmaniye, Turkey received a Zero Waste certificate awarded by the Turkish government. The award is part of Turkey’s Zero Waste Policy, an action plan initiated in 2017 with the primary goal of collecting and separating all waste and increasing recycling rates, both in industrial and consumer environments across the country. The plants implemented measures such as reducing hazardous waste by 80%, reducing chemical usage by 60%, reducing greenhouse gas emission rates through energy-saving activities, and reducing waste deposited in landfills by 95%. Employees have become dedicated to the sustainability journey and are proud to be making an impact on the community around them.