Amcor Ltd., a provider of packaging products, has been awarded a 2012 Supplier Sustainability Award from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a multi-national manufacturer of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, and biotechnology products. Amcor Rigid Plastics, a producer of rigid plastic containers, and Amcor Flexibles,a supplier of flexible packaging, were jointly recognized for their overall sustainability efforts and targeted activities as a leading supplier to J&J.

Amcor was one of seven award winners in the worldwide competition held by J&J. J&J has a global supply base of over 100,000 companies: from this group, Amcor was one of 43 suppliers that were nominated for the Sustainability award. J&J made the award presentation during its global procurement meeting on October 23 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.

“Our emphasis on sustainability is a major focus of our business and we are extremely proud to be recognized by J&J for our targeted efforts in this area,” says David Clark, Amcor’s vice president of safety and sustainability. “This award reaffirms our commitment to providing innovative and responsible packaging solutions that protect the many resources invested in products and reduce waste throughout the supply chain.”

The award recognizes J&J suppliers that value and share a serious commitment to sustainability, according to the company. The nominees were evaluated on a range of environmental and social and economic criteria, including energy use and reduction, water use and reduction, waste reduction, workforce injury/illness reduction, workforce wellness, and community/human rights investment. Amcor was recognized for its efforts in all six sustainability areas, related to its supply of absorbable suture packaging, polypropylene cups, flexible foil, PET bottles, and catheter, orthopaedic, and Sterrad pouches utilized by J&J’s MDD businesses.

As an example, Amcor developed a PET bottle with 50% and 100% FDA grade post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. The 50% PCR bottle results in nearly a 20% carbon footprint reduction compared to the 100% virgin PET bottle. Other examples include the optimization of several flexible packaging solutions, where improved design as well as improvements in the manufacturing processes led to a reduction of carbon footprint and other life cycle impacts in the range of 15-20%.

Amcor Rigid Plastics, based in Ann Arbor, MI, USA., and Amcor Flexibles Europe & Americas, based in Zurich, Switzerland, supply packaging to J&J from global production sites in the US, South America and Western Europe. Amcor Rigid Plastics produces HDPE bottles, PET bottles, and PP caps/vials while Amcor Flexibles manufactures plastic film, foil, pouches, lids, and labels.