SIG promotes recycling of packaging to help create a better future

SIG, a more than 170-year-old food and beverage packaging company headquartered in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland, is progressing its sustainability strategy to move the industry toward a more sustainable future.

As a leading aseptic solutions provider of packaging — better for customers, for consumers and for the world — SIG offers a unique portfolio of carton, bag-in-box and spouted pouch solutions, leveraging its distinctive technological and innovation capabilities.

The packaging company plans to refine its sustainability through a series of measures to achieve the group's net-zero science-based target from the Science Based Targets initiative, or SBTi.

SIG has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2050, the most ambitious commitment available through the SBTi process. Of the more than 2,000 companies globally with a public net-zero pledge, SIG has been among the first 325 companies to have its target validated by the SBTi.

SIG's connection with the Chinese market dates back to 1985.With China as its home base for Asia-Pacific development, the company has grown over the past 20 years from the groundbreaking launch of its plant at Suzhou Industrial Park in 2002, to today's nearly 1,700 employees in China across five modernized production plants covering aseptic and chilled carton and bag-in-box product lines. Currently, SIG sells more than 10 billion aseptic cartons annually in the China mainland market.

In 2017, SIG Asia-Pacific Technology Center was established in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, aiming to better meet the needs of local customers through innovative technology and to meet the growing demand for healthy and nutritious food and beverages in China and the Asia-Pacific market.

In 2022, SIG Terra Alu-free +Full Barrier, the world's first full barrier packaging material without an aluminum layer for aseptic carton packs, was launched in the China market. SIG Terra Alu-free+ Full Barrier packaging material has a high renewable share and a low carbon footprint and is designed for recycling. Removing the aluminum layer reduces energy needs in the supply chain and contributes to lowering the carbon dioxide footprint of the packaging.

SIG beverage cartons offer a responsible choice that is fully recyclable by design. The raw materials from used cartons can be separated and recycled to make new products, keeping valuable resources in circulation. The high-quality paper fiber can be separated and recycled for reuse at paper mills, while the remaining polymer and aluminum mix can be reused together for roof tiles and furniture, or separated for a wider range of applications.

For post-consumer food and beverage packaging recycling, SIG is supporting the Chinese government to implement the extended producer responsibility system in the food and beverage packaging industry. Among the first batch of members, SIG has been participating in the Alliance of Technological Innovation in Compulsory Resources Recycling Industry, a nonprofit, self-regulatory organization set up under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission since 2018.

The Specialized Committee on Utilization has processed a total of 490,000 metric tons of recycled carton packaging over the past three years. By 2025, eco-design in the field of beverage carton packaging will be more widely carried out and the recycling rate of discarded beverage carton packaging will strive to reach 40 percent.

"China is SIG's largest single market. We have always adhered to the concept of serving local customers and benefiting Chinese consumers, and through our innovative technologies and high-quality products and services, we aim to meet today's and tomorrow's food and beverage needs of Chinese consumers," said Angela Lu, president and general manager of SIG Asia Pacific.

"At the same time, as a pioneer in advocating the sustainable development of the industry, SIG is willing to work with more industry partners to promote the production of lower-carbon food and beverage packaging, and continue to foster the recycling of packaging, to promote the development of the circular economy," Lu said.