Recycling Partnership: US EPR laws push retailers toward major packaging and supply chain overhaul

Kotkamills will continue as the main partner of the KooKoo ice hockey team also in the next league season. The partners have agreed to exercise the agreement’s option year for 2021–2022. KooKoo is pursuing a completely plastic-free game event, and the agreement means a big step closer to realising that goal. One of the big social responsibility targets of the collaboration that started between KooKoo and Kotkamills in 2019 is to make the Finnish ice hockey elite league, Liiga, games played at Lumon Arena plastic-free. “When we started the partnership with Kotkamills, our ambitious goal was to be the first sports club to develop our operations so that one day we can have a completely plastic-free game event and together show our strength in building social responsibility,” says KooKoo’s Managing Director Sakari Välimaa.

Metsä Board, the leading European producer of premium fresh fibre paperboards and part of Metsä Group, is delighted to announce that two of its folding boxboards, MetsäBoard Natural FBB and MetsäBoard Pro FBB OBAfree, as well as two food service grades, MetsäBoard Natural FSB Cup and MetsäBoard Pro FSB Cup, have now received home compostability certificates complying with NF T 51-800 standard. Metsä Board’s eco-barrier paperboard MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB already holds the same certificate. “In order to enhance a circular economy our main target is that our paperboards are recycled after use. But recycling is not always possible – the paperboard may be contaminated due to its contents and therefore cannot be recycled. In such a situation compostability is the next best alternative,” says Helena Moring-Vepsäläinen, Product Safety Manager at Metsä Board.

Today marks Global Recycling Day, which recognizes the importance recycling plays in protecting the planet and brings the world together to prioritize sustainability. Led by the Global Recycling Foundation, the annual milestone implores the public to see opportunity rather than waste and to be thoughtful about what we throw away. This mission aligns with our own goals and responsibilities as a major manufacturer of metal packaging—a primary product that is infinitely recyclable and supports a sustainable supply chain. Within our Twentyby30 sustainability program, our approach to recycling is twofold: We are working to raise consumer and industry recycling rates in our major markets, and alongside those efforts, are aiming to improve the recycled content averages across our products. These efforts recognize that metal packaging carries tremendous recycling power—a recycled beverage can, for example, returns to a store shelf in as few as 60 days—and contributes to the circular economy. In addition, the lifespan of aluminum beverage cans in particular is considered cyclical because when made with recycled material, their production reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 90% when compared to cans made from primary materials With the knowledge that recycling 100% of aluminum cans could power four million homes for a full year, the value of this manufacturing efficiency becomes even clearer.