Sustainability is about meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same.
As a key part of our long-term business strategy, our sustainability platform is built on three pillars: People, Planet and Performance. By investing in our workforce and our communities, acting responsibly with regard to the environment, and delivering strong financial results and innovative packaging solutions for our customers, we continue to make our business more sustainable.
Responsibility To Results, WestRock Company’s first sustainability report, covers the three pillars of our sustainability platform — People, Planet and Performance. This report also highlights specific strategies and projects that are driving sustainability throughout our operations around the world.
Our co-workers are the reason for our success. We seek the best talent and foster a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace where new ideas and innovative thinking are encouraged and rewarded. We operate our business according to the highest ethical standards and treat all of our stakeholders—co-workers, customers, communities, suppliers and investors—with honesty, integrity and respect.
We’re dedicated to the responsible stewardship of natural resources, conscientious management of our global manufacturing facilities, and full compliance with all laws and regulations.
Environmental excellence starts with a strong commitment to compliance at all levels of management, and active teams and systems to manage environmental requirements. Our sustainability goals for water use, carbon emissions, recycling and energy efficiency are helping drive continuous improvement in our businesses around the world.
The best business practices are sustainable ones. Working safely, attracting high-potential talent, improving our environmental footprint, and giving back to our communities aren't just the right things to do—they are also good for our company’s bottom line.
We believe sustainability helps drive innovation and spurs fresh thinking that can lead to profitable growth. Sustainability is one of our motivations for practicing lean manufacturing to reduce waste. It also inspires us to adapt our renewable and recyclable paperboard and other packaging substrates to create products that are eco-friendly and profitable market leaders too.
By looking at sustainability opportunities and applying our unique insights on emerging packaging trends, we are able to deliver unparalleled sustainable packaging solutions to customers around the world.
Paper is the original green packaging.
Our products made with virgin fiber—a renewable resource—begin with wood sourced from responsibly managed forests. We actively promote efforts to increase the amount of land certified to recognized forest management standards and have created one of the largest chain-of-custody certified fiber procurement organizations in the industry.
We also have one of the industry’s largest recycling networks, and reuse fiber-based packaging to manufacture a variety of new paperboard and 100-percent recycled products.
We believe the most sustainable approach to fiber sourcing is one that balances virgin and recycled materials.
Our love of forests and our commitment to responsibly sourcing the wood fiber we use is embodied in what we do every day. Our team of forestry professionals has a long history of educating landowners and communities on the best practices for managing forest lands, and the research programs we support help ensure the health and productivity of our forests for years to come.
We’ve created one of the industry’s largest independently audited systems for tracking and ensuring that the wood harvested for use in our manufacturing operations is done in compliance with laws, with respect for traditional and human rights, and in a manner that protects forest ecosystems and regions of high conservation value.
WestRock’s fiber certification systems provide our company and yours with assurance that the paper and packaging products we make contain fiber from well-managed forests.
We don’t just claim to be sustainable—we live it. That’s why we created a set of sustainability goals that reflect the business priorities and values of our company. These goals provide us with a roadmap for the future. Everyone—from the plant floors to our corporate offices—is charged with delivering on these goals. We will achieve our sustainability targets by collaborating with co-workers, customers, suppliers and others.
Accountability is a core value at WestRock, and we are committed to providing our stakeholders with regular and transparent reporting on our progress against each of our goals.
Keeping our 39,000 co-workers safe is our highest responsibility. “Safety First, Safety Always!” That’s how we aspire to operate our business around the world every day.
Current Status: 2% reduction from 2015 baseline
We can’t be sustainable if we aren’t financially healthy. Focusing on people, planet and performance isn’t just the responsible thing to do, it will make WestRock an even more profitable business in the future.
Current Status: Maintained investment grade credit rating
Integrity is one of our core values. We strive to operate our business in compliance with all laws and according to the highest standards of ethical conduct.
Current Status: 10,700 employees completed Code of Conduct training and our annual Compliance certification
We aspire to be the premier partner and unrivaled provider of winning packaging solutions. We are dedicated to providing our customers with innovative, sustainable products supported with exceptional customer service.
Current Status: Surveyed 6500 customers, representing 52 countries. Met our target; increased the percentage of "fully engaged" customers
Our co-workers are our greatest assets. We are committed to fostering a strong culture of inclusion, where every employee is valued for his or her unique contributions and perspective.
Current Status: Employee Resource Groups formed in Atlanta, GA; continued programming activities in other locations
Having employees who give their best every day is what makes WestRock a safe, productive and profitable business. We are working to create an environment where all of our co-workers are engaged in their jobs and our organization.
Current Status: Surveyed 33,000 employees with an 88% employee response rate; 67% favorable
We are deeply connected to the places where we live and work. We support local communities through charitable giving and encourage co-workers to volunteer their time and talents in ways that benefit their communities.
Current Status: The 2017 Hurricane season significantly impacted employees based in affected communities. The Employee Relief Fund received 270 applications and provided grants totaling more than $560,000 in FY17
We believe sustainability drives innovation. Designing products that use renewable fiber, optimize the use of materials, and are recyclable at the end of their useful life benefits the environment and is good for business—our customers’ and ours.
Current Status: 46% of new products launched in 2017 included a defined sustainability benefit
We are committed to ethical business practices, and we expect the same of our suppliers. We have created a supplier code of conduct to ensure our vendors comply with all applicable laws, act in a socially responsible manner, respect the environment, and provide us with safe products and services.
Current Status: Developed online affirmation process for 3rd-party suppliers
We are working to create a more diverse supply chain. We believe that increasing supplier diversity will create more routes for us to procure the goods and services that our operations rely on, in addition to providing fresh perspectives on our business.
Current Status: Exceeded FY17 supplier diversity goal (5%) with total spend being 5.4% of our total supplier spend
We understand the value of forestry certifications. By increasing our internal purchases and use of certified office products we are demonstrating our belief that certification schemes play a big role in keeping our forests healthy and productive.
Current Status: Change in corporate supplier has required restatement of goal. Progress will be updated in FY18
Chain-of-custody certification is a process that allows us to track the wood fiber that we purchase from the forest through our manufacturing facilities to our customers. This level of traceability through our supply chain provides greater transparency into the responsible sourcing of our wood fiber.
Current Status: 85.5% of wholly owned facilities certified
We support forest certification, a voluntary, third-party verified process by which forest landowners adhere to a prescribed set of sustainable forest management practices. Procuring wood fiber from these lands demonstrates our commitment to sustainable use of forest resources.
Current Status: No change from baseline
We understand the land management needs of small, private forest owners and can provide them with resources to help them certify their properties to recognized international standards. Increasing the amount of certified land will create a more abundant supply of sustainable, virgin fiber for our operations.
Current Status: Over 200,000 acres certified since 2015
WestRock is committed to acting as a responsible steward of the environment, and we are always looking for opportunities to improve the environmental footprint of our manufacturing operations. Our environmental commitment includes efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels.
Current Status: On an intensity basis, we reduced our GHG emissions by approximately 5 percent per ton of production from FY15 to FY17. Absolute GHG emissions were reduced approximately 10% from FY15
We have a legacy of recycling that dates back 100 years, and today we are one of North America’s largest recycling companies. We want to increase recycling in our business by forming active waste minimization teams at all of our containerboard and paperboard manufacturing facilities.
Current Status: Established waste reduction teams at 81% of our mills
Our largest facilities have manufacturing processes that use water for a variety of process purposes, and having a clean and abundant supply of water is critical to our operations. In order to protect local and regional water supplies, we intend to develop site-specific strategies for improving water conservation and increasing water recycling at our containerboard and paperboard mills.
Current Status: Completed water reduction plans for mills in Virginia and Florida that use groundwater
Our most energy intensive operations generate most of their own steam and electricity by using highly efficient combined heat and power systems fueled with renewable biomass. However, we are always searching for ways to increase our energy efficiency in order to benefit both the environment and our bottom line.
Current Status: On an intensity basis, we improved our energy efficiency by 1% from FY15 to FY17 (MMBtu/ton of production). Total fossil fuel use was reduced by approximately 6% from FY15
Our policies reflect our core values and commitment to sustainability.