Placon, a leading North American designer and manufacturer of custom and stock thermoformed packaging, with an extensive line of recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) sheet, is proud to announce its participation in Wisconsin Department of National Resources’ (DNR) Green Tier program.
Placon has a long history of environmental stewardship with numerous advancements in PET recycling. In 2011, the Company opened its 70,000 sq. ft. recycling facility dedicated to reclaiming both plastic PET bottles and thermoforms and turning them into food and non-food grade recycled plastic sheet. Despite complexities in the PET thermoforms recycling process, EcoStar sheet has included flake from thermoforms as a component of its extrusion blend on a regular basis with exceptional results.
“Sustainability is in Placon’s DNA,” states Jake Taylor, health, safety & environmental manager at Placon. “Before the majority of our industry even thought of plastics recycling, we’ve been ahead of the curve to figure out ways to do so.”
Placon, an ISO 14001 company, consistently works to understand the impact its business operation has on the environment and keeps improving its environmental performance through recycling efforts, emission reductions as well as educational programs. In the past two years, Placon’s Madison facility has decreased waste to landfills by nearly 20,000 lbs while increasing recycling by over 10 million lbs. The Company has an active employee recycling program along with community educational programs that consist of speaking engagements at area schools and tours of its recycling facility.
“When we look at our environmental performance, we look both internally and externally,” continues Taylor. “At what we can do to reduce energy through the use of energy efficient lighting systems lamps, Variable Frequency Drives, high power air compressors and more to what we can do to educate our employees and the community.”
The Green Tier program is designed to encourage new environmental goal setting. The voluntary program recognizes and rewards environmental performance that exceeds legal requirements. As a Tier 1 participant, Placon is committed to maintaining a strong environmental record, a formal Environmental Management System and submit annual performance reviews to the DNR with the approval of continued advancements.
States Cynthia Moore, recycling program coordinator at DNR, “we see a genuine environmental commitment at Placon. Their success in waste reduction and recycling innovation has been phenomenal.”