All of Us, Every Day

Sustainability is the defining business challenge of the 21st century. On a planet with a booming population, a warming climate and limited natural resources, our company, like all companies, must learn to do more with less and operate in a way that has a positive effect on the earth.

At Avery Dennison, sustainability isn’t just something we do—it is, increasingly, how we do everything. And it takes all of us—employees, customers, suppliers and more—to make the changes, connect the dots, and invent the solutions necessary for real transformation. You can read about Avery Dennison’s enterprise sustainability progress—and read our latest sustainability report—here.

Meet the Finalists - 2018

Sustainability in our Label and Packaging
Materials Business
As part of Avery Dennison’s largest division, our label and packaging business has a huge opportunity to improve the sustainability of our company, our supply chain and our industry. We’re advancing sustainability by offering innovative products; sourcing sustainably and building a sustainable supply chain; and working to eliminate waste from our products throughout the value chain. We have set ourselves some ambitious goals and are transparent in our progress, being open to external collaboration and partnership to advance sustainable industry change.

The ClearIntent™ Portfolio

Our ClearIntent™ Portfolio is an ever-growing selection of products that include hundreds of facestocks and adhesive made with fewer inputs, certified and renewable materials, and other performance-enhancing innovations.The ClearIntent portfolio enables you to:

Responsibly source. We offer hundreds of label options made with Forest Stewardship Council^®-certified paper and film made from renewable resources.

Reduce materials. Thinner labels means consuming fewer resources.

Recycle. Many ClearIntent products incorporate recycled content or elements that make our customers’’ products more recyclable.

See our ClearIntent™ Portfolio Standards here.

Taking On The Challenge of Label Waste

Millions of tons of label waste—mainly silicone-coated paper release liners and matrix— end up landfills or incinerators every year. What’s missing isn’t the will to recycle, but rather the global infrastructure of waste transporters and recyclers necessary for converters and brands to recycle label waste conveniently and cost-effectively.

One of our corporate sustainability goals is to eliminate 70 percent of the liner and matrix waste from our value chain by 2025. Label waste is a challenge for our whole industry; as an industry pioneer, we’re in a unique position to do something about it.

We’re reaching out to recyclers and to paper and plastic manufacturers in the five global regions in which we operate. A dedicated team in each region is connecting with potential recycling partners, then helping to close any technical gaps that exist. We’re also producing technical documents for customers and recyclers, dispelling the longstanding myth that siliconized liners cannot be recycled. In 2017, we initiated an independent global study of liner recycling, and plan to share the results upon completion. In all, we’re envisioning an industry solution to liner waste that:

Is available to all customers
Doesn’t require additional costs for recycling
Eventually results in a “circular” system, through which raw materials are kept at their highest utility as long as possible.

Click here to read more about recycling services.

Increasing the Availability of Certified Paper

The world’s forests are critical to environmental and economic health, and our label business depends on a sustainable paper supply. What’s more, converters and brands increasingly demand certified paper in their labels, so that they can be confident their paper has been responsibly produced.

Since 2013, we’ve worked to purchase increasing amounts of paper made from fiber certified as sustainable. In 2014, we set the goal of buying 100 percent of our paper from sources certified as responsible, with at least 70 percent being certified by the Forest Stewardship Council^®.

Meeting our demand for certified paper isn’t possible with current available volumes. So we’re working with suppliers to increase supplies, particularly in Asian nations, where certified pulp and paper are scarce. We’re also working with The Rainforest Alliance to increase the amount of responsibly managed forestland—even in forests not harvested for paper manufacturing.

We offer the label industry’s largest selection of certified solutions, with most at no extra cost. See our certified paper products here.

Helping Communities Thrive

We have a long history of investing our funds, expertise and time in the communities where we do business. It began with our founder, Stan Avery, who said, “There was a time when all I wanted to do was help people with charitable work. But as time went on, I realised that a business could do so much more. It could help more people than I could possible help on my own.” Our employees carry on in Stan’s spirit every day.

Our company makes the majority of its community investments through the Avery Dennison Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to advance education and sustainability in the communities where our employees live and work, and to encourage employee engagement with a spirit of invention and innovation.

The Foundation’s primary means of giving is its Global Grantmaking Initiative. Through the initiative, the Foundation works with employees worldwide to identify and fund local organizations that provide essential services in the communities they serve. Those grants often include volunteer work by our employees well.

As part of its mission to advance education, the Foundation has for many years funded our InvEnt Scholarships in China and India. InvEnt Scholarships help cultivate the next generation of innovators by providing outstanding students in STEM-related fields with tuition assistance, an invention competition and professional development opportunities. As part of their application, students submit ideas for an invention they then design during their scholarship year. Each year, InvEnt Scholars are honored at an award ceremony where they exhibit their inventions for their professors and executives from Avery Dennison.

Our LPM employees give at the the local level through the Granting Wishes program, which enables them to recommend smaller, one-time grants to local nonprofit organizations. In addition, employees collaborate with grantees on a hands-on volunteer project.