In our 2023 Sustainability Report, we announced our goal to eliminate 100% of single-use plastics from all packaging on outbound products shipped from nVent facilities by 2030. Single-use plastic is defined as plastic that contains zero recycled material content (virgin plastic) and is also not post-consumer recyclable.
This goal is a part of our Product pillar where our vision statement is: innovative solutions that deliver efficiency, safety and reduced resource consumption, creating a more sustainable future.
Our sustainability-focused product innovations will continue to play a key role in driving energy efficiency, conscious material use, longer service life and safety in our customers’ operations. Our products and solutions also add resiliency to critical systems by providing protection from natural and human-made disruptions—extending their lifespans and reducing waste.
We are focused on product packaging because it was an area where we saw the opportunity to make a significant impact. All our products have packaging, and our customers that receive our products are interested in improving their sustainability alongside their suppliers.
Pursuing this goal includes working to define our current state by reaching out to our packaging suppliers to understand what single-use plastic items they are currently providing to nVent. Our packaging engineering team will then work with our packaging suppliers to develop and test more sustainable alternatives. These alternatives may include paper-based products, recyclable or high recycled content plastics, or biodegradable options. We are refining our strategy and roadmap for this goal, and we will begin reporting on our progress in 2024.
“We are excited to announce this new goal as we focus on developing highly differentiated solutions with measurable sustainability impact.” said Tom Hurney, Director of Enterprise Technology. “We are early in the process but nVent is determined to implement alternative packaging to achieve our goal of eliminating single-use plastic from all our packaging by 2030.”
One example from last year is from the nVent ERIFLEX team who switched out their virgin plastic tubes used for packaging their grounding braid wires to a plastic tube made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic. This project, along with many others, will be stepping stones to achieving our goal.