Pretium Ireland Plant
Pretium’s Ireland facility specialises in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) packaging for the specialty beverage, household chemical and healthcare markets. While sustainable innovations in HDPE packaging are not always on the forefront, the long-term demand outlook for sustainable HDPE packaging is encouraging. A few reasons behind this:
There are several upcoming EU and UK sustainability regulations that are impacting long-term demand for more sustainable HDPE packaging products, focused on the following themes:
1
Recycling and recycled content
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is the key driver of sustainable packaging in the sector, and sets mandatory targets on the % of recycled content and recyclability of packaging. The EU Single Use Plastic Directive (SUPD) requires caps to remain tethered to bottles to reduce issues of caps being separated in the disposal;
2
Packaging and plastic taxes
The EU Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and UK Plastic Tax incentivise packaging producers and brands to switch to more readily recyclable or recycled content packaging.
3
Transparency
Transparency on businesses’ sustainability claims is being enforced by the EU’s Green Claims Directive, which is particularly important to large consumer-facing brands. Large companies also need to report on their GHG emissions under the CSRD.
Pretium Ireland has made progress on sustainable products with cap innovations and rHDPE equipment. Plans are in place to meet future sustainable product demand.
Pretium Ireland’s product offerings include a range of sustainable options to meet growing customer demand, including:
rHDPE packaging
Pretium Ireland currently offers 20% rHDPE products, and is working with existing customers to trial 30% rHDPE. Dairy customers lead current rHDPE adoption, with 20% rHDPE automatically included in all 3L milk bottles.
Tethered cap
Pretium Ireland patented a tethered cap solution for dairy customers in response to EU SUPD. The tethered caps preserve mono-material packaging and prevent cap separation during disposal, enhancing recyclability and reducing litter, supporting the overall circularity of Pretium IE’s dairy packaging.
Pretium Ireland has formalised its sustainability strategy and calculated scope 1-3 GHG
Pretium Ireland developed a sustainability strategy in 2024 which outlines ambitions and yearly benchmarks for key topics such as GHG emissions, resource efficiency, H&S and product innovation. Day-to-day sustainability monitoring and progress is led by the Pretium IE Sustainability Manager, with the Managing Director leading the overall sustainability strategy.
Pretium IE has skills and resources in place for most sustainability topics and has operated mostly stand-alone from Pretium Packaging (parent) on sustainability. Pretium IE has made progress on its sustainability performance in recent years. Scope 1-3 emissions are calculated, and yearly benchmarks for emissions intensity have been met over the past 3 years. Scrap rates for plastic packaging are typically below internal benchmarks of 2.75%, and 15-30% of waste plastic is reused in production. Pretium IE has begun re-using plastic scrap produced in operations, reducing total waste volumes and improving circularity.