Community, waste reduction and water management initiatives drive DS Smith’s U.S. success in executing its Now & Next Sustainability Strategy

We have made substantial progress in the U.S. on initiatives from our Now & Next Sustainability Strategy. DS Smith’s North America Packaging & Paper (NAPP) division’s successes are outlined in the company’s recently issued 2023/24 Sustainability Report.

DS Smith NAPP met critical circularity and nature goals in part by reducing waste to landfill and emphasizing water management at its U.S. plants. In addition, we have become a leader in community engagement for the company, highlighted by every facility and office in the U.S. participating in charitable and stewardship activities in their local communities in the company’s 2023/24 fiscal year.

"Our work in North America addressing the company’s ambitious strategic goals reinforces DS Smith’s purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world."

Sustainability in communities

Our Sustainability Report details progress against our commitments in the key areas of circularity, carbon, nature, and people & communities. Sustainability education is an important people & communities focus, and the report details DS Smith NAPP’s achievements educating schoolchildren with an engaging Biodiversity Rangers lesson plan describing the intricacies of a pine forest food web. DS Smith NAPP, which is headquartered in Atlanta, has presented the lesson plan to hundreds of Georgia students.

Our NAPP employees engaged in 37 activities during the fiscal year to help improve the environment and wellness of people in the communities they live and work in. Community activities across our U.S. locations included:

• A community volunteer homebuilding project completed by members of NAPP’s Cambridge, Maryland, box plant
• A box donation from the Reading, Pennsylvania, packaging plant to help a local school move locations following a flood
• A Riceboro, Georgia, timber mill field day to educate local students and parents about timber processing and paper-based packaging
• A Riceboro paper mill school supply drive that provided materials to more than 500 local K-12 students, along with six Chromebooks given to local teens entering college.     

Cambridge cuts landfill waste and sets a company water planning benchmark

Two North American case studies from our Sustainability Report highlight successes at the Cambridge box plant. In the first, Cambridge staff implemented new methods for handling wax to help the plant achieve an impressive 46% reduction in waste to landfill. The Cambridge location also reduced waste by recycling more of the pallets it uses. Improved equipment maintenance procedures played a role in the success as well, with more regular check-ups, repairs and training leading to less production waste.

Cambridge’s second sustainability case study relates to our emphasis on proactive planning around water use. The Cambridge plant served as the pilot site for creating a water scarcity plan documenting the strong management framework and critical strategies needed in the event of a water supply shortage. Managers now have a detailed course of action to follow if the site loses access to water for a short, or prolonged, period. Because of the level of clear direction it provides, this new plan for the Cambridge site has become the gold standard in water scarcity management across our packaging plants globally.

The principles that drove the Cambridge plant’s success in waste reduction and water scarcity preparation are being applied at additional DS Smith facilities in the U.S. as the company works toward achieving its sustainability targets and strategic planning goals.

“DS Smith has a Now & Next goal to develop water management plans for all of our paper mill and packaging sites by 2025,” said Berg. “The additional water scarcity planning completed for our Cambridge site provides important best practices that can be shared companywide.”

The new 2023/24 Sustainability Report also shares important global highlights of our progress designing out waste, keeping materials in use for longer, and transitioning to a circular economy, including:

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 19% compared to the 2019/20 baseline
• Replacing 1 billion pieces of plastic in our customers’ packaging with fiber-based alternatives – a goal we achieved 16 months of ahead of schedule

Other achievements cited in our new Sustainability Report include:

• Engaging 8 million people on the circular economy and circular lifestyles
• A 12% reduction in accidents year-over-year across the company
• Completing biodiversity activities at each of DS Smith’s 14 paper mills
• Optimizing 90% of new packaging specifications for individual customer supply chains.