Sabert reports recycling progress

Sabert Corp., a Sayreville, New Jersey-based food packaging producer, says its 2021 Sustainability Report highlights several programs, including an “update on the positive impacts delivered from Nuvida, Sabert’s fully owned, comprehensive recycling plant.”

According to Sabert, its Nuvida plant in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, accepted more than 8,000 tons of postconsumer plastic scrap in 2021, representing a 117 percent increase from the 2020 volume. The Nuvida plant was established in 2012 and 2013 to create food-grade polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) recycled-content resins, according to its website.

“In 2021, our recycled content in our plastics products rebounded to 14 percent, of which 42 percent was postconsumer recycled resin (PCR),” the packaging firm says.

“Sabert is in a unique position to significantly contribute to a more sustainable future for not just our company but for our customers, too,” says Albert Salama, founder and CEO of Sabert. “Across our facilities, we have made great progress toward our sustainability goals, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished to date. Still, we know we have more work to do. Today and well into the future, we will continue to find new ways to protect the environment, strengthen our communities and drive the responsible growth of our organization.”

Sabert includes the Nuvida operation in the Smart Sourcing section of what it calls its Earthtelligent platform, tied to its Global Strategic Commitment 2025. Other categories include Waste Reduction, Research & Reinvention, Education & Advocacy, Energy Conservation, Workplace Diversity and Health & Safety.

In its Research & Reinvention category, Sabert says globally it launched 131 products in 2021, of which 84 (64 percent) “are either recyclable, compostable or are made with recycled or renewable content.”

The company states, “Sabert’s New Product Development team prioritizes uncovering manufacturing efficiencies and more sustainable solutions every day. The team also sets aside approximately 20 percent of [its] time annually to work on Blue Sky development projects, which are aimed at applying creative use of design and materials to solve our most pressing sustainability issues.”

Within its Education & Advocacy category, Sabert says in 2021 it conducted more than two dozen meetings with customers “to share our sustainability program and efforts, understand their sustainability goals and engage in two-way dialogue on how we can work together to make single-use packaging more sustainable.”

In addition to plastic recycling as a Smart Sourcing effort, Sabert in 2021 opened a new facility in Greenville, Texas, that makes what it calls bio-based and compostable pulp food packaging.

On the Waste Reduction front in 2021, Sabert says it reduced its “absolute waste generation by 7 percent and landfill waste by 17 percent from all our reporting plants.”

Sabert, founded in 1983, operates North American facilities in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia and manufacturing facilities in Nivelles, Belgium; Kimbolton, United Kingdom; Lodz, Poland; and Zhongshan, China.