8 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Industrial Packaging
July/August 2020
Varibox makes material
recycling a priority
Bulk Distributor spoke with Laurent Boulet, junior UK & Ireland sales representative at Promens Montoir
about the company’s close co-operation with customers to ensure that sustainability goals are reached
With material recycling being a priority
for Promens Montoir, which often
loses ownership of its packaging products
once sold, it is putting actions in place to
increase the number of products recycled.
According to Laurent Boulet: “We are
developing projects to close the loop and
encourage our products to be sent back to us
Customers that use Varibox products can preserve energy, material,
labour and capital costs while greatly reducing waste
after their active lifetime. This way, we will keep
sight of our products across their entire lifetime
and will be able to manage their end-of-life.”
With many of the company’s customers being
European chemical distributors with clear
environmental targets on carbon footprint,
packaging waste and business circularity, growing
environmental awareness from the general public
causes a chain reaction that is driving the market
requirements for sustainable options.
It is for this reason that the company is
developing solutions in close co-operation with its
customers, to enable them to achieve their
sustainability goals of decreasing packaging waste
and overall energy required in the supply chain.
With customers regularly asking about the
environmental benefits of reusable IBCs, and how
using them can help to achieve buyers’
sustainability targets, the company strives to
answer questions with facts and examples. This is
where the Varibox IBC products are used, to show
the sturdiness and reliability of reusable
packaging.
Boulet comments: “According to the Chemical
Business Association (CBA), packaging is only
obligated on its first trip through the packaging
chain, once it has been emptied by the end-user it
can be used again in its original form and for the
same purpose without picking up any further
obligation, allowing our customers to avoid
additional costs related to Producer Responsibility
obligations. This also helps customers that use
Varibox products to preserve energy, material,
labour and capital costs while greatly reducing
waste.”
Benefits
Aside from there being little impact on the supply
chain due to there being no additional costs
related to reverse logistics, using reusable IBCs
means that chemical distributors are relieved from
expensive, time and space consuming end-of-life
management.
Every Varibox SC has a lifetime of 10 years
Laurent Boulet
Using data provided from chemical distributors
who use the Varibox products, Boulet says that
the total value of ownership (TVO) of Varibox
gives a result of 64 percent hazardous waste
savings along its entire lifetime of 10 years.
Aside from supplying IBCs that are designed for
reuse, Boulet shared important steps that the
company is taking to show its commitment to
sustainability.
“Our parent company, Berry Global, has
announced our sustainability strategy, ‘Impact
2025’, outlines an intention to reduce 25 percent
of our greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, versus
the company’s 2016 baseline. We also joined the
Alliance to End Plastic Waste in January 2019, as a
founding member. Finally, in June 2019 the
company became a signatory of the New Plastics
Economy Global Commitment.
“In the future, we aim to improve our and our
customers’ environmental footprint by closing the
loop and managing the end-of-life of Varibox
products, effectively recycling them, allowing us
to incorporate the recycled material into new
Varibox products.”
www.rpc-promens.com