SASB: RT-CP-410a.1, RT-CP-410a.3
Altium focuses on producing primary packaging designed to protect and extend the shelf life of a product’s contents. The company prides itself on partnering with customers to advance the use of recycled content and reduce the amount of virgin material required. Today, 99.7% of the packaging Altium produces is fully recyclable.
Altium acquired its PCR business, Envision Plastics, in 2014. Through Envision, Altium is the second-largest United States producer of recycled HDPE resin. Envision Plastics was founded in 2001 and, since that time, has produced nearly 1.5 billion pounds of recycled resin, and continues to produce 100-115 million pounds of recycled HDPE per year. Envision produces a range of high-quality packaging options, including EcoPrime®, which is a line of products made from recycled packaging through a unique, patented process designed to eliminate contaminants. The FDA has issued Letters of No Objection to allow these products to be used in many food and beverage applications.
Plastic containers have a significant impact on the earth’s oceans (14 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans every year). Acutely aware of the damage that ocean-bound plastic can cause, Altium created a program that recycles plastic from at-risk areas such as Mexico and Haiti, reducing the amount of waste that would otherwise end up in the ocean and enabling a more circular economy. Since 2017, through its OceanBound plastic offerings, Envision has already removed 26 million pounds of plastic that was at risk of polluting oceans.
In addition to the recycled resins business, Altium has responded to customer interest in more sustainable packaging solutions through its family of patented light-weight package designs known as Dura-Lite®. Dura-Lite® bottles offer a sleek new look, a robust container, a compelling sustainability solution and potential for material cost savings for dairy, beverage, and water applications. Compared to traditional offerings, Dura-Lite® reduces plastic resin usage 5-20% while maintaining or improving strength and performance attributes. Altium has continued to expand the Dura-Lite® platform in response to customers’ demand for environmentally conscious packaging through the commercialization of new offerings.
Altium has shipped over 1.8 billion Dura-Lite® bottles since the technology was commercialized in 2016. Since its launch, the use of Dura-Lite® packaging over conventional packaging has saved approximately 22 million pounds of virgin plastic. The environmental savings of Dura-Lite® has reduced Altium’s energy consumption by 48 million kilowatt-hours. Altium expects even greater savings as more of its customers convert to Dura-Lite® dairy and industrial bottles and as the company develops more applications of its light-weight technology.
Altium has also been actively pursuing methods and technologies that reduce the total mass of plastic in its products, as well as those that increase the percentage of recycled content in its products. The company is developing ways to further increase the use of non-plastic fillers and plant-based materials as substitutes for petrochemical-based materials. For example, in 2020, 2.8 million pounds of plastic were offset through the use of mineral fillers and plant-based materials in Altium’s bottle production.
While Altium offers a number of services and products to help minimize the impact of plastic on the environment, solutions from manufacturers are only part of the answer. Altium’s goal is to help create a circular economy for the packaging industry and eliminate plastic waste. As a result, Altium supports customers in developing sustainable solutions, including the use of recycled resin in its products, and encourages governments and communities to develop the infrastructure to support recycling. Meanwhile, as consumer demand for recycled plastic products increases, Altium is ready, willing and able to provide them.