Unwrapping sustainability

HAVI Global Solutions (HGS), Downers Grove, Illinois, has been helping retailers and manufacturers manage their packaging for the last four decades. The company was formed in 1975 to manage packaging for two Midwest distribution centers of a national restaurant chain based in the U.S. Since that time, the company, which also has offices in Europe and Latin America, has grown to provide analytics and supply chain services, packaging, promotions management and recycling and waste solutions to many widely recognized brands, including McDonald’s and Einstein Bros. Bagels.

HGS’ Anthony DiIenno, who is president of the company’s Recycling and Waste Solutions (RWS) business, says its Analytics and Supply Chain business provides clients with end-to-end supply chain visibility that supports planning and strategic decision-making, while the Packaging business provides consulting and managed services in package design, product development and packaging optimization, as well as strategic sourcing, quality assurance and graphic services. HGS’ Promotions Management business manages retail promotions, including new product launches. DiIenno’s RWS division provides “waste services, recycling services (through our commodity trading platform) and sustainability solutions that help national and regional customers in retail, food service and manufacturing reduce costs, drive commodity revenue and improve overall service,” he says. “We provide a one-stop shop for all of the recycling and waste needs of our customers, including 24/7 call center support, vendor management services and national analytics and reporting services.”

The company’s RWS business began in Europe, where DiIenno says HGS has been providing zero-waste programs for more than 20 years. The North American team is considerably younger, however, having been formed in 2012, he says.

“This expanded team was formed and driven by the sustainability management expectations of our customers and the regulatory demands placed upon the packaging industry,” DiIenno says. “This sense of environmental responsibility drives the holistic approach we have at HGS across each of our business units.

“As HGS manages the supply chains of many of the largest companies on the planet, offering end-to-end solutions that minimize impacts to the environment and drive packaging solutions that are more sustainable for our clients and their customers have placed RWS at the forefront of our integrated services and the One HAVI approach,” he adds.

DiIenno is a third-generation recycler. Prior to joining HGS in September 2012, he served as vice president of national sales and marketing for Smurfit-Stone and then for RockTenn (now WestRock) following its acquisition of Smurfit. In this role he was responsible for national recycling and waste management programs at McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Kroger, JC Penney and Darden, among a number of other companies.

In the Q&A that follows, DiIenno talks more about HGS’ role and the benefits vendors and clients can realize by working with the company.
 

Recycling Today (RT): What benefits can brand owners realize by working with HGS’ Recycling and Waste Solutions business as opposed to directly with recyclers or waste haulers?

Anthony DiInneo (AD): Unlike many companies providing services in this area, we do not own landfills, paper mills or trucks, so we are able to deliver a “neutral” unbiased solution that is customized to meet the unique needs of our customers.

We become the outsourced facility management department for many of the largest retailers, food service and manufacturing companies in North America. Our national customers have hundreds or thousands of locations. They want a strategic partner who can drive national programs, deliver diversion from landfill, increase recycling, manage the day-to-day service requests and help deliver savings and meet their sustainability goals.

The other benefit of working with HGS is that we have great recycling and waste partners throughout the U.S. and Canada that perform to the high standards we demand and our customers expect.
 

RT: How do you go about contracting with recyclers to provide recycling services for your clients? How extensive is the network of recyclers that you work with?

AD: Our vendor network is diverse and includes more than 5,000 qualified waste haulers, recyclers, paper mills, scrap metal processors, electronic scrap recyclers, pallet and organic recyclers, grease and oil companies and others who provide comprehensive facility management services throughout North America.

We don’t offer territories or national contracts to our vendor base. Our position has always been to represent our customers to obtain the best service at competitive national pricing. We issue national requests for proposal (RFPs) based on criteria set by our team in conjunction with the needs of our customers.

Our vendors benefit because we bring them market share and opportunities they could not get on a regional basis.
 

RT: How does sustainability factor into your company’s business philosophy and how does that concept extend to your clients?

AD: Sustainability factors into all aspects of the One HAVI approach with our customers. The goal of conducting business in a sustainable manner is a lofty one since actions to achieve it impact every aspect of our company, our customers and most importantly, their customers. In order to offer products and services that clearly are superior, we have committed to a sustainable business model that includes conservation, communication and the commitment to measure and improve.

It’s about conserving resources, reducing waste, preventing pollution, avoiding or eliminating materials of environmental concern and being mindful of, and taking actions to improve impacts of, business throughout the entire life cycle.

It’s also about communicating our vision and goals to our stakeholders, employees, vendors and customers. The better we communicate, the better we can maintain our proactive approach to work with our suppliers and vendors to measure our success by setting procurement policies and corrective actions plans that track our performance and progress toward sustainability.
 

RT: Where do recyclability and recycled content fall in terms of your clients' priorities? What other sustainability factors resonate with them?

AD: Global supply chains turn to HGS for market intelligence and thought leadership that creates value through packaging at all points within the supply chain and life cycle of packaging. That begins with sustainable sourcing through design and managing the packaging to its end of life.

One of the largest bagel shop operators in the U.S. engaged HGS to create a new sustainable box to contain its bagels and cream cheese spread that would be easier and more efficient to load. With the old container, employees needed to open the prefilled box of bagels to add a piece of paper and the spread once customers placed their orders. The new container HGS designed has built-in side-loading inserts that let employees add two containers of spread without opening the box or adding a paper liner. This increased efficiencies and helped move customers through the stores more quickly. The new containers also were more sustainable: HGS eliminated the paper liner, reduced the board weight of the box and designed them to be shipped flat for greater pallet utilization. Most importantly, the containers are made from 100-percent-renewable materials that are 100 percent recyclable. The customer saved $400,000 to $500,000 per year on its packaging and reduced its carbon footprint.
 

RT: What are the recycling and waste services that your team offers? How can clients benefit from these services?

AD: We offer comprehensive turnkey management services to meet all of the recycling and waste needs of our customers. We learn our customers’ businesses and assume management of their waste streams, helping them divert materials from landfill, leverage volumes for better pricing, reduce costs and recover commodity revenue. Some customers have seen in excess of $8 million to $9 million annual return on recovered commodities. Whereas our national, multilocation customers previously may have been managing 400 to 500 waste vendors across the country, they can now make one call to HGS.
 

RT: What role does analytics play when it comes to recycling and waste solutions?

AD: At HGS, we don’t just collect data points and create reports that don’t tell a story of effectiveness. We provide recycling and waste analytics that include trend analysis and historical versus future forecasting to tell a complete story of recycling and waste diversion. We do this through comprehensive knowledge of our customers’ operations and understanding of the characterization and makeup of the waste and recycling generated at their facilities throughout the supply chain.

We also provide forecast against budget analysis for the scrap commodities we buy and sell on behalf of our customers. We design and manage programs based on operations, sales and drive-thru versus dine-in percentages. We take traditional waste services and engage our innovative analytics that drive insight.

The better job we do providing insight to our employees, suppliers and customers, the better decisions can be made throughout the recycling and waste supply chain.
 

RT: Can you share some case studies from the Recycling & Waste Solutions team and the impact your work in this area has had for your clients?

AD: We recently helped a quick-service restaurant (QSR) customer divert excess product from landfill and manage the end-of-life disposal process for maximum brand protection. The QSR needed to dispose of 5,000 barrels of excess frozen lemon juice housed in cold storage facilities throughout the country and wanted to do so efficiently and with the least possible impact on the environment; however, various environmental regulations, recycling constraints and service capabilities at the local level prevented this.

HGS tested the product for recyclability and handling based on the state regulations where each facility was located. HGS also identified and qualified vendors for recycling in each jurisdiction, inspected their recycling facilities and tracked every barrel of product to its destination. As a result, the QSR diverted waste from landfill, saved the equivalent of 62,000 gallons of gasoline, reduced energy consumption by 963 million Btu (British thermal units), curbed incremental greenhouse gas emissions by 164 metric tons, reduced cost by 17 percent (versus traditional landfill diversion) and provided brand protection.
 

RT: What trends are shaping consumer packaging presently? What impact will these changes have on recyclers?

AD: The future of packaging appears to be settling around four different key areas—sustainability, food safety, performance and cost. Packaging that is perceived to be green and that has the characteristics of recyclability and reusability is a growing trend.

Plastics will continue to replace glass, and metals and flexible packaging will continue to replace rigid structures.

Multiple substrates used within packaging—as is often the case with flexible—is one of the toughest challenges that recyclers will face in the future.

Anthony DiIenno is president of HAVI Global Solutions’ Recycling and Waste Solutions business. Visit www.havigs.com.