Having sustainable operations has rapidly evolved from being a ‘nice to have’ strategy to a ‘must do’ critical demand for brands and their packaging suppliers. For the packaging industry, this means supporting brand owners who are under considerable pressure to respond to consumer needs and need support to accelerate their own sustainability commitments.

Esko is acutely aware of the role it plays in providing digitization, automation and connection of packaging development processes to deliver quality and operational efficiency gains for businesses. Through developing technologies that eliminate errors and waste, while speeding up and connecting processes and devices efficiently, Esko continues building solutions that enable businesses to minimize their impact on the environment by reducing waste in the production process.

Underlining its commitment to delivering on these objectives, Esko is now also accredited by EcoVadis, the world’s most trusted business sustainability ratings, which has a global network of more than 100,000 rated companies. Aligned with international standards, the EcoVadis sustainability assessment methodology is an evaluation of how well a company has integrated the principles of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility into their business and management systems. Scoring is based on a questionnaire customized to the applicant’s industry, size and country, and all data submitted is verified by the world’s leading sustainability analysts.

Esko has engaged with EcoVadis to underline its commitment to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) aspects, with this third-party accreditation reinforcing its position.

Delivering on sustainability goals through technology

As Jan De Roeck, Esko Director of Industry Relations & Strategic Marketing, explains, “Communicating our long-term commitment to reducing our impact on the environment we live and work in is no longer a nice to have, but becoming a competitive differentiator. We decided a long time ago to use technology to deliver solutions that help our customers achieve their own sustainability goals. In simple terms, we determined it was time to say, ‘Let’s just do the right thing’.”

As an environment-conscious supplier to the packaging and label industry, Esko embraced the sustainable procurement component of the EcoVadis assessment, which drives suppliers to Esko - and Esko customers alike - to only engage with suppliers that have at least a bronze EcoVadis medal or are showing activity to improve.

“Our customers are now asking for our EcoVadis score,” explained Jan. “Environment sustainability has emerged as the main market driver in our industry today, and we are proud that we can respond and demonstrate our credentials.”

EcoVadis rates and continually monitors companies’ CSR management and progress while offering tools to drive improvements. The assessment focuses on 21 issues which are grouped into four themes - Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. Esko is proud to have been awarded a bronze rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements so far.

Energy Savings and Dematerialization

This is only the latest achievement that underlines Esko’s commitment to delivering against ESG objectives. Esko recently announced its XPS Crystal flexo imaging unit achieved both Certified Energy Savings and Dematerialization certifications from GreenCircle - the internationally recognized third-party certification entity that independently verifies the validity of sustainability claims.

GreenCircle validated Esko claims that the XPS Crystal delivers energy savings of 41% for tradeshops and savings of 59% for converters. In terms of broader environmental sustainability, the Esko XPS Crystal also achieved Dematerialization certification, with GreenCircle validating a staggering 92% reduction in waste - and 100% removal of hazardous waste - over the lifetime of the machine.

In 2022, Esko published Environment Sustainability – considerations the packaging industry, a whitepaper that examines how responding to consumer demands and accelerating their own sustainability commitments requires the industry to deliver a wholesale shift in packaging design, development, and production.

To download your free copy of the whitepaper, or to learn more about how Esko solutions can help your business achieve your sustainability objectives, visit https://www.esko.com/en/company/sustainability.