The Illinois-based packaging firm, which manufactures compression and injection-molded closures for cosmetic and personal care products, has reported a 10.5 percent reduction in energy usage in 2010 compared to the prior year.
The company attributes the decrease to conservation efforts at its eight North American manufacturing facilities.
"Portola's goal is to minimize its environmental impact by creating sustainable, value-added manufacturing and product solutions. We believe in using natural resources responsibly to manage energy use and reduce waste wherever possible,” said Kevin Kwilinski, CEO of Portola.
“We also believe in partnering with our customers and communities to help make that happen," he said.
Over 2 million pounds of recycled material
In addition to energy reduction, the closure manufacturer’s plants also recycled in excess of two million pounds of material including plastic, paper, aluminum and steel.
The energy conservation efforts carried out by Portola have included the purchase of new equipment with reduced energy requirements, a conversion for injection to compression molding for certain products, implementation of productivity improvements and other conservation practices to manage heating and energy use.
The company also claims to be investigating alternative packaging approaches which would enable between 30 – 35 percent more closures per truckload, reducing fuel and packaging material costs by more than $1m annually.
"At Portola, we believe that good environmental stewardship is an ongoing process. As such, we have engaged all of our employees in the process to reuse reduce and recycle. We encourage all of our team members to generate new, environmentally-sound ideas so that we can continue on this path," Kwilinski added.
In addition to Portola's North American operations, the company's five international manufacturing plants (UK, New Zealand, Czech Republic and two in China) are also working on a parallel environmental stewardship path.