Ball receives Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications for its manufacturing plants

Ball Beverage Packaging India, a leading producer of infinitely recyclable aluminum beverage cans, today announced that it has earned Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications for its beverage can manufacturing plants in Taloja, Maharashtra and Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The certification, a first in India, indicates that Ball has met ASI’s rigorous environmental, social and governance principles.

ASI is a multi-stakeholder initiative that provides assurance of responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium throughout its value chain. Ball’s facilities in Taloja and Sri City join a growing list of Ball’s can making plants that have been certified, starting with all of its EMEA plants in 2020 and extending to its first South American plants in 2021.

Commenting on the ASI certification for India, Amit Lahoti, senior director and general manager, Ball Beverage Packaging, Asia said, "The ASI certification demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and enables our customers to embrace certified responsible sourcing practises for aluminium. By continuously evaluating and improving the aluminium supply chain, ASI certification will help India to achieve its carbon reduction targets, to develop a truly circular economy, and to respond to the growing demand from consumers for sustainable packaging.”

The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative’s scheme aims to do for aluminium what the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) did for paper and wood, making sustainability performance a mainstream, visible issue. Ball’s plants in India have achieved both ASI’s Performance, and Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard certifications.

The ASI Performance Standard is a measure of how much effort Ball is making across its plants to assess, manage and disclose its environmental, social and governance impacts. These include issues such as life-cycle thinking, recycling, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste management, biodiversity, business integrity and the human rights of both workers and local communities.

The ASI CoC Standard sets out requirements for the creation of a Chain of Custody for material that is produced and processed through the value chain. In Ball’s case, it links verified practices – certified under the ASI Performance Standard – from mining and remelting to casting, rolling, can manufacturing and filling.

With 75% of aluminium ever produced still in use today around the world, aluminium has a vital role in creating a truly circular economy. Aluminum cans are the world’s most recycled beverage package, with recycled metal saving 95% of the energy compared to the production of virgin aluminium. Ball is partnering with like-minded organisations in India to increase the collection of used beverage cans and initiate the best methods, policies and actions to achieve a fully circular aluminium beverage packaging system.