December 2014

"Cut/4 CArboN": Ball Promotes Global Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program for Beverage Cans

Carla Cuts Carbs initiative, unveiled at BrauBeviale 2014, provides transparency of Ball's achievements towards reaching the 2020 target

Ball is nearing the half way point of its program to reduce the carbon footprint of its most common beverage can formats by 25 percent by 2020. The company demonstrated the successes of its Cut/4 CArboN program at this year's BrauBeviale in Nuremberg, Germany, in an unusual way: its progress is seen through the eyes of "Carla", a fictional Ball employee who has been 'hired' as Ball's carbon cutting coach. Carla tracks and follows Ball's carbon cutting efforts via "Carla's Carbon Chronicle" (www.carlacutscarbs.com/), a microsite designed to deliver real-time information about Ball's achievements to date and those of its industry partners.

"The product carbon footprint of a beverage can represents the sum of greenhouse gas emissions a can causes throughout its entire life cycle. The initiative's ultimate success relies on both Ball's controllable efforts as well as those realized in partnership with suppliers and customers along the value chain," explained Johanna Klewitz, Manager Sustainability & Regulatory Affairs. To achieve its top-line target of 25 percent, Ball focuses on four of its six corporate sustainability priorities: operations, innovation, recycling and supply chain. On the operational side, Ball aims to achieve its ambitious goal through making plants more energy efficient. In Braunschweig and Hassloch, Germany, for example, Ball replaced old compressors with new ones, thus reducing the energy consumption by a total of 1.3 million kilowatt hours.

"Engineering out the unnecessary"
Regarding innovations, Ball has taken a major step towards reducing its cans' greenhouse gas emissions through a practice dubbed "engineering out the unnecessary". The idea is to optimize the cans' overall weight while maintaining consistent high quality and performance of the products. The B-Can in Europe and the global roll-out of the CDL end are important achievements in this area. The B-Can in 33cl format saves 5 percent material in the body versus standard cans of the same size. The material savings of the CDL amount to 10 percent compared to standard ends and lead to considerable results: In Ball's North American Beverage Can plants, the roll out of the CDL end, completed in 2011, saved 11.500 tons of metal, equal to 127.000 tons of GHG emission savings.

Recycling: the key to a small carbon footprint
Metal recycles forever: it does not change its material properties when recycled and can be used again and again in new products. "Recycled aluminum only requires five percent of the energy which is needed to produce primary aluminum. This helps us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions accordingly. Recycling is therefore a major contributor to reducing the carbon footprint of our beverage cans," said Johanna Klewitz.

Ball supports various recycling programs all over the world. They include the Curbside Value Partnership in the US, MetalMatters in the UK, or the away-from-home collection campaign Every Can Counts which is now operational in eight European countries. Over the last five years, more than 1,700 organizations signed up to the program and there are more than 10,000 Every Can Counts branded recycling points around the UK.

Cutting transport-related emissions
On the supply chain side, Ball strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by joining programs such as the "SmartWay" program, managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which creates incentives for Ball's carriers to improve fuel efficiency. In 2012, SmartWay Carriers executed 89 percent of Ball's North American Metal Beverage transportation needs and between 2010 and 2012 efficiency gains resulted in a 12 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per mile. Additionally, Ball wants to collaborate with industry partners to reduce the energy intensity of aluminum production. In the US, for example, it has been reported in 2014 by the Aluminum Association that the energy needed to produce a single metric ton of primary aluminum has declined by 11 percent since 2005. Ball incorporates such gains in its C4C calculations.

Information about Ball's sustainability efforts, including greenhouse gas emissions, can be accessed via Ball's data center on www.ball.com/data-center. Details about Ball's carbon cutting measures are illustrated in Carla's Carbon Chronicle on www.carlacutscarbs.com.

Contact:
Kendall Griffin
PR Manager
Ball Packaging Europe Holding GmbH & Co.KG
+49 228 50 216 200
Kendall.Griffin@ball.com
Visit us at www.ball-europe.com

Renee Robinson
Manager Corporate Communications
Ball Corporation
+1 303-460-2476
rarobins@ball.com
Visit us at www.ball.com

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