Containers Printers: Sustainability is Non-Negotiable for a Packaging Firm with a Conscience

After a challenging 2020, this year has continued to present problems for businesses, individuals, countries and economies. Despite increasing difficulties in material availability, shipping routes, and pricing, says Container Printers CEO Amy Chung, the company has accelerated its transformation efforts.

Covid-19 brought workforce shortages, reduced visitor access to the Containers Printers (CP) site, and inevitable disruption to the supply chain. CP has risen to meet and overcome those challenges, says Chung, and it has remained operational throughout the pandemic.

Initiatives such as remote audits, combined with safe distancing, have prompted CP to embrace a new way of working. “Adopting the changes makes us more prepared to work this way,” she says, “and has accelerated some trends and projects, including the digitalisation of our factories.”

“The firm’s portfolio has diversified to include metal and flexible laminate packaging solutions for a global market, and sustainability is now front and centre.”

Containers Printers was founded in Singapore back in 1981 with a humble, everyday product: the square cooking oil tin omnipresent in Southeast Asia.

The firm’s portfolio has diversified to include metal and flexible laminate packaging solutions for a global market, and sustainability is now front and centre.

That momentum has created a buzz throughout the CP hive. “We’re supporting customers to meet new packaging legislation, and sustainability targets,” Amy Chung says. Singapore’s new Mandatory Packaging Reporting (MPR) legislation requires companies to provide packaging data to the government.

The island state has announced its 2030 Green Plan, laying out national agenda on sustainability. This includes a path to carbon-neutrality and a circular economy, areas to which CP is committed.

Customers continue to request recyclable packaging, as well as packaging with recycled content — and the pace of change is accelerating. In the UK, the Plastics Packaging Tax targets packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content, starting in 2022.

CP is continuing research work with partners looking into advanced technologies, such as chemical recycling and digital solutions to support Lifecycle Assessments.