CardPak Leads in Environmentally-Sustainable Packaging

CardPak Leads in Environmentally-Sustainable Packaging
As the printing and packaging industries adopt green initiatives in manufacturing processes, CardPak leads in its initiatives.

CardPak Inc., a manufacturer of environmentally sustainable packaging products, was an early proponent of the "green" movement, and offers a complete line of packaging solutions that reduce the amount of total materials and plastics used in retail packaging, thereby reducing the company's, retailers' and end-users' carbon footprints.

"We are very dedicated to the growing movement to protect the environment," said Tony Petrelli, president, CardPak. "Aside from manufacturing our products with recycled renewable and/or sustainable materials, CardPak also has adopted a lean manufacturing strategy which reduces manufacturing waste and recycles scrap fiber waste, while reducing energy consumption in our manufacturing processes."

Taking that a step further, CardPak is joining with the Solon schools and the National Paperboard Packaging Council in sponsoring the Trees Into Cartons, Cartons Into Trees Program. TICCIT (pronounced "ticket") is an outreach and education program highlighting the natural renewability and sustainability of paperboard packaging. And at the center of TICCIT is a mainstay of the typical school day: the milk carton.

As part of TICCIT, milk cartons are collected out of schools' waste streams and re-used for planting new trees. Seeds and saplings are planted in the cartons, and then the new "carton-and-tree units" are planted in the ground. The cartons provide protection and a natural "water funnel" for the new trees. As the trees grow, the cartons break down, completing the trees into cartons, cartons into trees cycle.

The company's environmental efforts have not gone unnoticed. CardPak recently received an "Evolution of Manufacturing" Award from Smart Business Cleveland magazine. The magazine recently honored 15 innovative Northeast Ohio companies who have adopted "green" initiatives in their manufacturing processes.

"We are very proud to receive this honor, and we are grateful that our efforts in environmental manufacturing processes and products are being noticed," Petrelli added.

-- CardPak Inc.

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Tony Petrelli is proud of the awards that CardPak Inc. has received for producing packaging that is both durable and environmentally friendly. But it’s not accolades that Petrelli seeks through the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Rather, Petrelli hopes employees, clients and any other stakeholders who come into contact with CardPak see the company’s passion for doing what it feels is right and applies that to its actions.

CardPak has developed numerous sustainable packaging concepts that address the concerns of major retailers regarding source and material reductions as well as recyclability requirements.

The company’s EcoLogical Line of Packaging has been created to remove significant amounts of packaging materials from the waste stream and use 100 percent recycled materials when possible.

Petrelli believes it is his responsibility, as well as that of his employees, to carry on the company’s history of finding the safest and most efficient way possible to manufacture its products.

CardPak is able to create products that reduce the amount of total materials used while providing consumers with a better package for protecting and dispensing the products they buy.

It’s not just the products that CardPak manufactures, however, that reflect the company’s commitment to sustainability. By using more efficient lighting in the company’s plant, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions were trimmed by more than half, saving a potential 600 barrels of oil per year.

The company also has adopted a lean manufacturing strategy that reduces in-plant manufacturing waste by more than 2 percent per month, reducing the amount of paperboard waste going to the landfill or having to be collected for recycling by close to 350 tons annually.

At the same time, the company is able to collect and provide more than 2,700 tons of fiber waste per year for use in the manufacturing of recycled paperboard for future packaging products.

So when the company was honored at the Environmental Printing Awards in Toronto last February, CardPak employees were gratified at the recognition. But the awards do not so much represent a goal achieved as much as a reinforcement of the company’s commitment to the future stake-holders of a community we are all a part of: the Earth.

-- CardPak Inc.