Sustainability

Glass, a material with exceptional qualities, infinitely recyclable 100%, without alteration regardless of the number of times it is recycled, is unquestionably one of the most sustainable materials. When it comes to packaging with the primary function of storing and preserving food and beverages, glass ensures ideal preservation of food in a sustainable manner (odorless, migration-free).

Our priority today is to produce healthy and sustainable glass packaging with the best environmental footprint. Although our glass bottle and jar production process generates an important level of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, all of our teams (Industrial, Technical, Research & Development, Energy, Purchasing) are constantly innovating to reduce our environmental impact.

“Re-imagine glass for a sustainable future”: our purpose sets out our long-term ambition and strategy. In order to play a leading role in the transformation of the packaging sector, and to go even further and progress even faster, Verallia has presented in January 2021 its CSR roadmap, which focuses on three pillars:

Enhancing the circularity of glass packaging by maximising the integration of cullet into its production processes: Verallia is therefore aiming to increase the rate of use of external cullet in production to 59% by 2025, compared to the 49% used today.

Finally, Verallia would like to promote the viable reuse of glass bottles and jars where it makes sense, as is already the case in Germany, for example. Verallia will therefore launch an initial pilot study in France by 2025.

Significantly reducing CO2 emissions across all Group operations by 2030 through three main levers:

• Changes in the mix of raw materials intended for glass production with an increased use of cullet and a shift away from carbonated raw materials;
• A reduction in the energy required for melting glass and other production processes;
• And an increase in the use of green energy.

This will be achieved through investments of around 220 million euro by 2030, specifically aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. All of these actions should enable Verallia to reduce its CO2 emissions by 27.5% by 2030.

Providing Verallia employees with a safe and inclusive place of work by implementing additional regulations in line with EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) standards:

• The Group reaffirms its objective of achieving zero accident across its sites,
• It aims to double the ratio of employees with disabilities working in the Group to 6% by 2025,
• Verallia also aims to increase the gender equality index by 15 points, so as to reach 75 points in all countries where the Group is present,
• Finally, the Group is committed to continuing and further promoting its employee shareholding ownership policy, which began in 2016, so that Verallia employees will hold 5% of the capital by 2025. They currently hold 3.3% (at end Dec 2020).

Moreover, in addition to the measures implemented as a result of COVID-19, the Group intends to continue to support local communities by dedicating 1.5 million euro to local projects every year from 2021 onwards, in line with its Purpose.