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Packaging News - January 25, 2005 - Jobwerx News - This update follows on from the 1st report published in September 2003, which set out the Group’s commitment to protecting the environment and minimising the environmental impact of our operations and products. The report also described the steps taken in identifying the environmental and social issues relevant to the business, and the strategy in place to manage corporate responsibility effectively within Rexam.

"Leadership of our industry brings with it many responsibilities towards the environment and the communities in which we operate," says Lars Emilson, Rexam’s Chief Executive. "The actions and plans that we have documented in these reports show that we are committed to continually improving our corporate responsibility performance, to minimising the environmental effect of our operations and to conducting business in an ethical manner."

What sustainability means to Rexam
At Rexam we are committed to managing our business in a sustainable manner. We ensure that we do everything practicable to minimise the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes. We also ensure that our packaging products can be and are recycled in large quantities. Our sustainable performance is tested and checked against our audit process and our eco-eficiency indicators, allowing us to understand and monitor our performance across all of our businesses. This process has been re.ned during 2004 and we are now con.dent that the current data set provides us with a baseline from which we can target and deliver further performance improvements.

GRI compliance
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for reporting the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of a company’s activities, products, and services. In the majority of cases we seek to meet the requirements of the GRI.

In 2004 we carried out a gap analysis between our current reporting areas and the GRI requirements. We will now identify those areas where we currently report and those which we intend to include in the future.

Progress towards ISO 14001
We are encouraging all our major production facilities around the world to strive towards an EMS based on the requirements of ISO 14001 verified by an independent third party.

We are on the way to achieving our target. Our operations that use metal and glass in their production processes are largely certified or making progress towards certification. In plastics, our five Asian businesses have committed to starting work to achieve ISO 14001 in 2005 with a target of certification by 2008.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) project
When it comes to Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets, we said that we would ensure that our KPIs would support our drive towards eco-eficiency. We also indicated that we would further refine our KPI data, so that by 2004 we would be able to establish specific measurable targets for our plants worldwide. Both these targets have been achieved.

We have grouped the data into our primary material types: metal (aluminium and steel), glass and plastics. The best performing manufacturing sites are being identi.ed and they are becoming the benchmark for all operations. This system will allow us to develop measurable targets for the future and to report our environmental performance on a consistent basis.

Our KPIs are either derived through actual measurement (e.g. energy use) or calculation (e.g. CO2 emissions).

We recognise that our responsibilities extend beyond our own businesses into the supply chain of products and commodities we buy.

In 2004 we took a number of steps to develop and roll out our Responsible Sourcing Programme. This programme is a key strategic project of our Group Supply Chain Council and the project is being led by a group of our supply chain professionals drawn from across the Group.

The complete report is available on the Rexam website: rexam.com/index.asp?pageid=647

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