EPL, a specialty packaging company headquartered in Mumbai, has been awarded the ‘gold medal’ in the 2023 EcoVadis Sustainability assessment.
The company received a score of 70 out of 100, being placed in the 94th percentile and in the top 5% on sustainable practices among the 90,000 odd companies across 160 countries assessed by EcoVadis. In 2022, the company received the EcoVadis Silver Medal with a score of 65.
Among the companies audited by EcoVadis in the manufacturing of plastics sector, EPL is among the top 13% in environment, top 9% in labor and human rights, top 2% in sustainable procurement, and in the top 6% in ethics. Overall, EPL ranks among the top 3% companies in the said industry.
EPL performed well in all four pillars assessed by EcoVadis, with an individual score of 70 on each.
The company remains among the best placed in the packaging industry, with some of these external validations. Recently EPL received a CDP rating of A- on climate change (leadership band), and A on supplier engagement rating (leadership band). In 2022, EPL was accredited positive (green rating) on all aspects by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
In the financial year 2023, the company received 5 ISO certifications on the environment, energy, OHSAS, ISMS & sustainable procurement globally for all its plants for sustainable practices
EPL recently released the third edition of its sustainability report, which provides deeper insights into the sustainable value created for its stakeholders, the progress made on ESG goals and the performance on ESG aspects.
It continues to be a member of the New Plastics Economy, an initiative by Ellen McArthur, India Plastics Pact, Science Based Targets (SBTi) signatory and UNGC (United Nations Global Compact).
Anand Kripalu, Global CEO and MD at EP, said, “The gold medal from EcoVadis is a confirmation of our commitment to sustainability. For us, sustainability is not just a ‘nice to do’ but at the core of our business.
“Our focus on product, people and process sustainability is what will make us ‘lead the pack‘ in the times to come. In FY23, we more than doubled sustainable tube volumes; we aim to again double in FY 24. Our employee-centric policies were recently recognized with 2 awards for “best places work’. I want to underscore that our ambition is to make EPL the most sustainable packaging company in the world. Not the biggest, not the most specialized, not just the lowest cost, but the most sustainable.”
EPL is the world’s largest specialty packaging company specializing in the manufacture of laminated plastic tubes for a wide range of industries. Its global manufacturing footprint comprises over 21 state-of-art facilities in eleven countries – Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, and the United States.
EcoVadis is a global collaborative platform that provides sustainability ratings. In this year, EcoVadis has evaluated over 90,000 organizations in over 160 countries and in over 200 industries. The objective of the EcoVadis methodology is to measure the quality of a company’s sustainability management system through its policies, actions and results.
The assessment focuses on 21 sustainability criteria that are grouped into four themes – environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.