Polyart Group has announced that its UK facility Arjobex Polyart Limited in Clacton on Sea has received a gold medal for its Corporate Social Responsibility performance from Ecovadis, one of the major rating organizations for sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This result ranks Arjobex Polyart Ltd among the top 5% of companies globally and in the top 2% of companies within the plastic manufacturing sector audited by Ecovadis.

Other facilities of the group achieved silver medal, including Arjobex America Inc in Charlotte, NC, Arjobex Rives in France, MDV Karlstein in Germany and TechFolien in Liverpool. 

Reisewitz, specialised in solvent-based coatings, achieved bronze.

Ecovadis is an agency whose assessments are based on documented and internationally recognized elements. The Ecovadis medals reward the way in which the Group implements actions and policies in line with its ambitions in terms of sustainable development. The Ecovadis methodology covers seven founding principles through 21 indicators divided into four themes: Environment, Social & Human Rights, Ethics and Responsible Purchasing. It is based on international standards, in particular the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the United Nations Global Compact, the ISO 26000 standard, and is supervised by an international scientific committee. The rating is performance-based by evaluating company policies, actions and results as well as contributions from professional third parties and external stakeholders.

Polyart Group has integrated ongoing sustainable development into its 5-year business plan, with the entire Group contributing to its environmental and social governance (ESG) commitments.

In 2021 Polyart group named Mark Grimley as corporate CSR manager, under the direct supervision of Stephane DAVEAU, CEO of the group. 2021 also saw the launch of r-Polyart, the first Synthetic paper with 30% post-consumer recycled polyethylene.

In 2022, Polyart had its coated and uncoated grades of Polyart tested under the Association of Plastic recyclers HDPE CG01 protocol; both grades were found compliant, proving that an HDPE rigid container with a Polyart label can be considered as mono-component packaging, and be recycled easily.

The next steps in the group sustainability roadmap in 2023 will be verifiable commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the group will also start a Recyclass evaluation of its European grades of films for labels. 

The group has also announced that by 2027 it will reduce by 20% the scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions of its Polyart synthetic paper range produced in Europe. 

“As a plastic manufacturer, we have to take responsibility for our impact on the environment, and strive to decrease it,” says Mark Grimley, global CSR manager of the group. “Ecovadis is the most trusted institution that enables us to evaluate and present a fair picture of our endeavors in terms of CSR and publish it in a transparent way.”