Resource
Our planet's resources are finite and its capacity to absorb waste is limited. Society needs to move towards a circular economy where we stop producing waste and strengthen natural systems.
We know SIG can play a big part in this.
We strive to lead the way towards a circular packaging system. Designing packaging with recycling in mind and using renewable and recycled materials are essential steps towards achieving a more sustainable and circular economy. Our ambition for our packs is that one day they are made exclusively from renewable or recycled materials and that every pack we make gets recycled. We have already taken steps to get there.
Keep products and materials in circulation
Our company goal: to turn used packs into new resources through recycling and partner with industry and stakeholders to reach recycling at scale in all our priority markets
Although all our cartons are designed for recycling and we offer designed-for-recycling options across all market segments served by our bag-in-box and spouted pouch packagings, waste handling and processing systems differ worldwide. We are committed to collaborating with our industry peers and associations to significantly increase packaging recycling globally.
Read more about our work to increase collection and recycling
Our commitment: increase recycling
Our company goal: to turn used packs into new resources through recycling and partner with industry and stakeholders to reach recycling at scale in all our priority markets
Although the majority of our packs are fully recyclable, waste handling and processing systems differ worldwide. We are committed to collaborating with our industry peers and associations to significantly increase packaging recycling globally.
Read more about our work to increase collection and recycling
"We’re proud of our partnerships around the world incentivizing collection and recycling which strengthen communities, ensure equitable working conditions and advance innovative recycling techniques to help recirculating the materials we use."
Ricardo Rodriguez
President and General Manager, Americas
Our commitment: circular packaging
Our product promise: to design cartons that support increased circularity
We are committed not just to increasing collection and recycling rates for cartons as they are today, but to designing them in a way that increases circularity in the future.
How do we do this?
Renewable and recycled content
Our ambition
Lead the industry for renewable content by continually increasing paper content in our flagship aseptic cartons,1 and comply with regulatory requirements on post-consumer recycled plastic content2 in every relevant SIG packaging.
1Top five SIG aseptic carton formats by sales volume.
2Via an independently certified mass balance system.
Where we are today
All our cartons are made mostly of renewable forest-based paper board.
We offer forest-based polymers3 for all our aseptic cartons.
We offer the world’s first full-barrier aseptic carton linked to 100% forest-based renewable content4 with no aluminum layer.
We offer circular polymer solutions linked to post-consumer recycled plastics5 for all our aseptic cartons and we are piloting circular polymers for bag-in-box.
3 Via an independently certified mass balance system.
4 Excluding negligible constituents, such as inks and pigments. Polymers linked to wood residues from paper making via an independently certified mass balance system.
5 Via an independently certified mass balance system.
By 2030
We will develop a full barrier aseptic carton with at least 90% paper content (including closure).
We will make all our flagship aseptic carton formats6 available with no aluminum layer.
6 Top five SIG aseptic carton formats by sales volume.
Design for recycling
Our ambition
Offer designed-for-recycling options for every relevant SIG packaging – in line with our sustainable packaging guidelines.
Where we are today
All our cartons are designed for recycling1 and we offer designed-for-recycling bag-in-box and spouted pouch solutions2 in all our relevant market segments.
1 In line with guidelines developed by ACE and 4Evergreen, and the relevant EN643 standard.
2 In line with Design for Recycling criteria developed by APR (Association of Plastic Recyclers) and Recyclass.
Recycling at scale
Our ambition
Advocate and partner through industry associations to achieve recycling at scale in all priority countries where SIG is active.
Where we are today
We partner with industry and stakeholders to implement dedicated and country-specific roadmaps to support increased collection and recycling of beverage cartons, bag-in-box, and spouted pouches in priority countries that account for more than 90% of our global packaging sales (by weight).
By 2030
Achieve a 90% collection and 70% recycling rate for our beverage cartons in Europe (through our commitment to the ACE 2030 roadmap).
Latest annual and CR report
Full detail of our approach and progress can be found in our latest combined Annual and CR Report
Spotlight on
Recycle for Good
The SIG Foundation supports our ambitions through targeted charitable projects and partnerships that strengthen civil society and create positive impacts for the environment. Avoiding waste is a common goal of all initiatives, including Recycle for Good – our community recycling program that aims to bring recyclable materials back into circulation.
Cidade+Recicleiros
SIG invests in the Cidade+Recicleiros program to enable cities, companies, and communities in Brazil to establish effective municipal systems to collect and separate consumer waste and ensure decent working conditions for waste pickers. This pioneering model has now been adopted by the Brazilian government as federal public policy.
Boosting recycling in Egypt
Partnering with the German Development Cooperation through GIZ to boost recycling and livelihoods in Egypt, we have launched a three-year public–private partnership with Plastic Bank to create an effective system for collecting and recycling used beverage cartons in Egypt – and improve working conditions for informal waste collectors. It is the first time that Plastic Bank is adding beverage carton to their blockchain technology, delivering full traceability to the recycling value chain.
Partnering to progress circularity
SIG partners with industry, customers, governments, non-governmental organizations, and communities on global and regional level to develop and implement solutions for a circular economy. We are also part of national producer responsibility organizations (PROs), industry associations, and other interest groups that seek to promote recycling in countries such as Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and the USA.
Carton circularity
SIG Terra Alu-free + Forest-based polymers
63% less CO₂e than a standard aseptic carton pack1
The first aseptic carton made with polymers linked to renewable, forest-based materials.
SIG Terra Forest-based polymers
41% less CO₂e than a standard aseptic carton pack1
Packaging material linked to up to 95% forest-based renewable materials via independent certification systems on a mass balance basis.
SIG Terra
Alu-free
23% less CO₂e than a standard aseptic carton pack1
The world’s first packaging material for aseptic cartons with no aluminum layer.
1 Based on independant ISO-compliant life-cycle assessment: SIG Terra Alu-free and SIG Terra Alu-free + Forest-based polymers and SIG Terra Forest-based polymers for SIG SlimlineBloc and SIG MidiBloc (CB-100734).
Our commitment to increasing paper content
Goal: 90% paper-content by 2030
We have committed to increase the proportion of paper content in our aseptic cartons by developing a full-barrier aluminum-free aseptic packaging structure with at least 90% paper content (with closure) by 2030. The aim is for our cartons to be suitable for recycling in the paper stream.
Bag-in-box and spouted pouch circularity
Our pouches are designed to protect the product inside using less packaging material – and therefore resources – than other packaging types. Our spouted pouch and bag-in-box business unit pioneered technology solutions to manufacture pouches from a single type of polymer to lead the industry in recycle-ready barriers that help simplify the recycling process. Our focus on designed-for-recycling solutions has created a future-proof system for a circular economy, enabling its mechanical recycling where infrastructure exists.
We acknowledge that increasing recycling rates and securing renewable materials for our bags and spouted pouches is challenging. We are always seeking to make more of our range designed-for-recycling and are actively working with partners on technical solutions for mechanical and chemical recycling. We were the first to introduce a bag-in-box recognized by the US Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) for meeting the highest criteria for recyclability under the APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recyclability, and the world's first bag-in-box linked to recycled content.
Our ultimate goal is to retain the benefits of bag in-box and spouted pouches while designing every pack for recycling and made from only recycled and/or renewable materials.