OCTAL PET Packaging Receives 2012 Gulfood Award for Best Environmental Sustainability Initiative

OCTAL has received the 2012 Gulfood Award for Best Environmental Sustainability Initiative in recognition of the company’s PET for packaging material.

Winners of the third Gulfood Awards (the Middle East's most highly regarded food and beverage accolades), were crowned at a spectacular gala dinner held recently at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on the opening day of Gulfood 2012.

OCTAL’s award is the result of years of effort in creating a sustainable process and product line designed for the packaging industry. Last year, Intertek Expert Services, an internationally recognized, independent testing service, confirmed OCTAL’s achievements. Intertek evaluations results proved that OCTAL’s DPET™ sheet uses 67% less grid electricity per kg of sheet. This translates to a carbon footprint 25% less than that of traditionally produced APET films.

OCTAL sustainability efforts have also resulted in the fact that 80% of water used in the company’s purpose-designed production facility is reused. Furthermore, all of OCTAL’s energy needs are derived from clean- burning natural gas. On-site high efficiency burners consume up to 20% less gas than traditional PET plants. Additionally, the integrated OCTAL facility has the ability to recycle trim waste during the manufacturing process and offers customers various recycling options.

With innovation at the heart of its sustainability agenda, the company’s state-of-the-art facility in the Salalah Free Zone also features a perimeter greenbelt, solar-powered lights in the parking lot and the latest in high efficiency lighting. All of these efforts further contribute to greener operations, establishing OCTAL as a recognized leader in responsible stewardship of natural resources inspired by a culture of metrics, transparency and accountability.

“This total integration of sustainability into our plant design gives us the ability to provide the global packaging industry with 927,000 tons per year of PET resin with a dramatically lower carbon footprint,” states OCTAL’s COO, William J. Barenberg, Jr. “That is why it has been exciting to be recognized, by our peers from The Sustainability Consortium at the University of Arkansas -, USA, and the Gulfood Awards, as a leader in the packaging industry for our environmental sustainability initiatives.”

Organized by The Dubai World Trade Centre, the Gulfood awards were judged by an international panel of independent industry experts and attracted more than 120 entries from 30 countries in 20 different categories including: best health education initiative, best new halal food, best environmental sustainability initiative, and best packaging innovation.

Source: OCTAL