Coveris announced as winner of the 2015 RafCycle Award

UPM Raflatac has announced Coveris as the winner of the RafCycle® Award at Labelexpo Europe 2015 in Brussels. The RafCycle Award is presented in recognition of excellence in recycling and environmental performance.

Coveris has demonstrated great commitment to improving the environmental performance of self-adhesive labelling and promoting the sustainability of the labelling business more widely.

“RafCycle is fully integrated into Coveris’ operations. Their waste streams provide raw material for the UPM Plattling paper mill, UPM ProFi® composite products and our waste to energy operations at UPM Schwedt. Moreover, since joining the program, Coveris have worked with UPM Raflatac to ensure full commercial sustainability in order to deliver increased value and provide new sales opportunities as a result of their improved environmental infrastructure. This clearly demonstrates the potential of our RafCycle program,” says Jesse Rep, RafCycle & Environment Manager at UPM Raflatac.

By recycling and reusing their waste streams through the RafCycle program, Coveris achieved a CO2 reduction of 24% equal to 4 transatlantic flights, 34% energy saving equal to lighting the Eiffel tower for 13 years and a 6% water saving equal to flushing 63 toilets for a year.

Dennis Patterson, Chief Operating Officer for Coveris’ UK Labels division accepted the award at UPM Raflatac’s stand during Labelexpo Europe, commenting, “We are very proud to receive this award which reflects our ongoing commitment to both the environment and our wider stakeholder communities. By collaborating strategically with UPM Raflatac, we have been able to offer a complete 360° solution for a product that was previously categorised as waste. Building on our partnership, we will now look to further support the RafCycle through continued supply as well as exploring other new, and innovative environmental processes to enhance the value of our products.”