Blog

Feb 21, 2025

Resource Efficiency - Ball

Sustainability is embedded in our manufacturing operations and is a lever of operational excellence. We recognize the impact our operations have on the environment and the local communities where we

Sustainability is embedded in our manufacturing operations and is a lever of operational excellence. We recognize the impact our operations have on the environment and the local communities where we operate and are committed to continuous efficiency improvements. We introduce innovative processes and technologies that improve our safety track record, reduce energy and water consumption, cut greenhouse gas emissions and divert more waste to beneficial use.

Employee engagement and commitment to sustainability are key to our operational success. To make sustainability more tangible for our employees, we introduced the “Big 6” concept in 2008 to focus the attention of Ball employees on the six most significant sustainability metrics in our operations.

Around the world, each Ball plant is accountable for these "Big 6" metrics and commits to annual goals as part of our strategic planning process. Each plant's performance is tracked monthly and reported to regional leadership teams. The businesses report their goal progress to corporate once each quarter and Ball's Sustainability Steering Committee reviews progress twice a year. To drive accountability and continuous improvement, goal achievement progress is also built into performance appraisals for plant management and operations leadership.

All of our plants utilize formal safety and environmental management systems. Since 1995, these systems have improved our safety and environmental performance by allowing us to monitor and manage our impacts and proactively implement corresponding compliance strategies. As of July 2024, 93% of Ball's manufacturing plants are ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certified. As of July 2024, within Ball Aerosol plants, 50% are ISO 14001 certified and 38% are ISO 45001 certified. Ball’s global environmental policy describes our expectations for managing and continually reducing our environmental impacts.

In every step—from concept, design, manufacturing and filling to delivery of the final product to the consumer—innovation helps us identify and drive profitable growth. We work closely with our customers to understand their businesses and consumer demand, as well as the challenges and trends they encounter so we can develop industry-leading packaging solutions and graphics to help them grow their businesses.

Often invisible to the outside world, many of Ball’s successful product and process innovations—such as weight optimization of our cans or increasing manufacturing speeds—provide significant environmental and economic benefits to the company, our customers and consumers. We evaluate innovations through a variety of lenses, including consumer benefits, carbon footprints, costs and the impact of new products on the recycling process.

Our intent is to make the lightest metal containers possible while meeting the performance requirements of our customers. Even small weight optimizations save significant amounts of metal, costs, energy and emissions when multiplied by the billions of containers that Ball produces each year. That is why weight optimization represents a major contribution to our 2030 resource efficiency goals.

Because access to fresh water is vital to consumers, our customers, our suppliers and Ball, we hold ourselves accountable for conserving and protecting water resources in our products, the communities where we operate and our entire value chain. A growing world population with greater demands for water-intensive food and energy, combined with increasing water needs and severe pollution of water resources in emerging economies, pose significant water supply constraints in some regions.

Material use and waste volumes are important yardsticks in evaluating the efficiency of our processes. Reducing spoilage in our manufacturing processes and recycling all metal production scrap are the most obvious ways that Ball can conserve resources and generate additional revenue. As our business continues to evolve and production volumes grow, our waste strategy remains the same—focus on systematically reducing the amount of waste generated, eliminating waste sent to landfills and increasing recycling rates.To ensure our employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage waste effectively, we conduct comprehensive waste management training programs in our NCA Beverage Packaging plants. These trainings cover best practices in waste reduction, recycling, and proper disposal methods. By empowering our team with this essential knowledge, we aim to minimize our environmental footprint and promote a culture of sustainability within our organization.Another key component of our waste management strategy is the integration of recycling programs to reduce the waste sent to landfill. These programs are designed to maximize recycling efforts and ensure that recyclable materials are properly sorted and processed. Through these initiatives, we strive to continuously improve our waste management practices and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Approximately 58% of the total waste generated by Ball is either reused or recycled. Our waste management efforts focused on increasing our waste diversion efforts through reuse, recycling and other recovery options. Our total waste diverted from disposal equated to 55,287 metric tons globally in 2023.

As we are driving to reach 100% renewable energy around the world, we are also improving energy efficiency at all of our manufacturing plants.

We are committed to reducing the amount of energy required to produce each beverage can in our manufacturing plants by 30% during this decade. This primarily means cutting back on our use of electricity and natural gas. Since our Global Beverage Packaging business accounts for most of our energy consumption, much of our efforts are focused in this business. Given we have plans in place to eliminate all GHG emissions associated with electricity by 2030 through the use of 100% renewable electricity, our attention is now on reducing the use of natural gas.

Although Ball facilities are typically located in industrial zoning sites, as part of the ASI certification process, we have begun undergoing an internal biodiversity audit of several manufacturing facilities. Examples below describe efforts underway across our regions.

Click to download an overview of our South American biodiversity efforts in Spanish, Portuguese or English.