DS Smith hits key sustainability milestones

The FTSE100 company’s Sustainability Report 2021 revealed that it had trained all 700 designers on the circular economy over the last year, enabling them to build circular design principles into hundreds of thousands of packaging designs for customers.

All of the company’s forests had achieved forest management certification and it maintained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for all of its sites, meeting the highest sustainable forestry standards on the market.

Every DS Smith site with more than 50 employees had been engaged in a program of activities to support the local community, while plans to reduce, reuse and recycle water were implemented at 25 of the company’s sites at risk of water stress, supported by regular water performance reviews.

The report revealed the company had achieved its target to source 100 percent recycled or chain of custody certified papers, and it had also ensured all sites accounting for 90 percent of its energy consumption were ISO 50001 certified. This globally recognized standard enables a coordinated approach for monitoring progress against targets.

The Sustainability Report 2021 is the company’s first progress update since launching its Now and Next sustainability strategy in September last year. The report also showed that DS Smith had reduced carbon emissions by 23 percent per ton of production compared to 2015 and by 4 percent per ton of production compared to last year – supporting the company’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

‘Our 2021 Sustainability Report provides an important update on our progress in achieving our ambitious sustainability goals over the last year. I am pleased we have met a number of our key targets, including those on forest management, community engagement, and training our designers on the circular economy,’ said Wouter van Tol, head of sustainability, community, and government affairs at DS Smith. ‘By redefining packaging and placing sustainability at the heart of all we do, we can reduce our impact on the environment while creating innovative design solutions that meet the needs of our customers.’