Amcor has released its 2022 Sustainability Report, detailing continued progress against key sustainability metrics and announcing an enhanced target to achieve 30 per cent recycled content across its portfolio by the end of the decade.

The new recycled content target, which is three times its previous target of 10 per cent, comes as Amcor reflects on a landmark year for its efforts on sustainability.

In fiscal year 2022, the company committed to net zero emissions by 2050, more than doubled post-consumer recycled material purchased since 2019 and achieved a Gold rating from EcoVadis for its industry-leading sustainability practices, placing Amcor among the top five per cent of all companies assessed.

The report also highlighted how Amcor has advanced on its pledge to make all products recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, with 74 per cent of total production by weight already designed to be recycled and the number of innovative solutions with more sustainable properties continually growing.

In 2022, the company launched a product rebrand that includes its new EcoGuard brand that makes it easier for customers to choose from a number of more sustainable solutions, including products that reduce the carbon footprint of packaging, are designed to be recycled and use recycled content or biomaterials.

The report also found that progress on Amcor’s EnviroAction program also continues, with a 33 per cent reduction in waste sent to disposal over the past three years and 121 Amcor sites achieving zero waste-to-disposal last year.

All sites have water management plans in place, and every site that uses plastic pellets, granules or flakes has implemented Operation Clean Sweep methodology for preventing plastic pellet loss.

Amcor CEO Ron Delia said, “We’re continuing to show ambition and leadership to deliver better sustainability results for our people, our customers, our investors and the environment. We’re working with every part of the value chain to make this happen.

“I am particularly proud of our colleagues around the world who are dedicated to delivering on our sustainability ambitions. We now have an exciting line-up of innovative packaging products and we keep raising the bar to deliver the very best solutions for our customers’ specific needs.”

Amcor sustainability vice-president David Clark mentioned that the business is proud of the work it is doing to make its business, and the packaging industry, more sustainable.

“In ramping up our targets for recycled content, we’re helping radically scale the amount of recycled content coming into the market to create a circular economy for packaging,” he said.

We do this by not only making sure that the packaging produced is designed to be recycled, but also by boosting infrastructure and consumer awareness to ensure content gets recycled and stays in the economy.”