Green Bay Packaging Wins the 2022 Sustainable Product of the Year Award by the WSBC

WSBC awarding Green Bay Packaging with the 2022 Sustainable Product of the Year award

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council (WSBC) is proud to announce the 2022 Sustainable Business Award winners. These awards celebrate recipients that demonstrate cutting-edge environmental, social, and governance leadership and recognizes them for being leaders in their industry and community. The winners exhibit leadership, initiative, and innovation and make measurable impacts across their businesses and the communities they serve.

Jessy Servi Ortiz, Managing Director of WSBC, explains, “Businesses play a crucial role in delivering solutions to customers and markets. These awards recognize Wisconsin businesses for delivering value through sustainable integration and driving sustainable adoption and innovation in the market.”

The 2022 Sustainable Business Award Winners are:

Sustainable Product of the Year: ContainerBoard Paper by Green Bay Packaging
Innovative Service of the Year: Printing using UV LED Curing Technology by Empire Screen Printing
Executive Sustainable Leadership: Chris Drees, President, Mercury Marine
Sustainable Champion: Scott Louks, Sustainability Manager, Mercury Marine

The Award finalists and winners were celebrated at the WSBC Sustainable Business Awards Reception at the US Venture building in Titletown, Green Bay, on November 15, 2022, at 5:00 PM.

A special leadership award is also given in honor of WSBC’s founder and executive director emeritus. The Thomas L. Eggert Leadership Forward Award recognizes Eggert’s legacy and countless contributions to the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Community.

This year, the award was presented to LeeAnn Glover of American Family Insurance as an individual who has supported and contributed to growing and extending the network of sustainability in her organization and beyond.

For more information about the Awards Reception and WSBC Conference, visit: https://www.wisconsinsustainability.com/2022-conference

About Green Bay Packaging, Inc.

Established in 1933, Green Bay Packaging Inc. is a family-owned, vertically integrated manufacturing company consisting of corrugated container plants, a folding carton facility, recycled and virgin linerboard mills, pressure-sensitive label roll stock plants, specialty converting operations, timberlands, and a sawmill facility. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., Green Bay Packaging is dedicated to the innovative development of its products and forestry resources, with a focus on safety, sustainability, quality, and continuous improvement throughout all 37 facilities in 16 states. For more information about Green Bay Packaging Inc., visit gbp.com

To learn more about Green Bay Packaging’s positive impact on surrounding areas click here

Fort Worth Division Awarded 2022 Environmental Industry of the Year

Green Bay Packaging Awarded 2022 Environmental Excellence Award

Honored for 13 consecutive years of regulatory compliance with the Clean Water Act and impressive environmental programming, Green Bay Packaging Inc. in Fort Worth has been named Industry of the Year in the City of Fort Worth’s annual Environmental Awards program.

The award was among several presented Thursday during the 2022 Environmental Excellence Awards. The awards have been handed out since 1999.

Fort Worth Water Director Chris Harder praised the winners for their commitment to environmental excellence and “leaving our areas of responsibility in better shape than when we started.”

“We are all in partnership together,” Harder said. “Congratulations to each of you on another year of success and achievement.”

Green Bay Packaging was also presented a Pollution Prevention Award for diverting more than 98% of facility waste from going to the landfill in 2021. Through reuse, recycling or recovery, the company diverted 7,251 tons out of 7,302 tons of waste generated.

Pollution Prevention Awards were also presented to Air Force Plant No. 4, Alcon Vision LLC., Hillshire Brands Haltom City plant, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Tyson Prepared Foods in North Richland Hills, and the Western Currency Facility.

Tarrant County College District was named winner of the Fort Worth Friendly Landscapes recognition award.

In all, 81 Fort Worth companies were honored for their compliance with wastewater regulations. Another 24 companies in six cities that contract with Fort Worth for industrial pretreatment services also earned recognition.

The City’s water utility sponsors the awards.

About Green Bay Packaging, Inc.

To learn more about Green Bay Packaging’s positive impact on surrounding areas click here

Green Bay Packaging Achieves Green Master Status for 13th Consecutive Year

Green Bay Packaging Achieves Green Master Status For The 13th Year

Green Bay, Wis. (November, 2022) – The Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council has named Green Bay Packaging Inc. a Green Master within its Green Masters Program. Recognizing sustainable actions in businesses from across Wisconsin, the Green Masters program works to identify businesses that have taken at actions in each of the nine pillars of sustainability. Participants in the program receive recognition for their sustainability accomplishments and develop ideas for future sustainability actions. Green Bay Packaging has achieved the Green Master designation for its thirteenth consecutive year.

Green Bay Packaging (GBP) has incorporated sustainability into its strategic business plan and deployed it through widespread initiatives, technology, and innovation to take its sustainability efforts to the next level.

The new state-of-the-art, 100% recycled paper mill incorporates advanced recycling capacity, innovative energy efficiencies, and a circular reclaimed water system, which has so far resulted in significant reductions per ton of paper production of 30% less water, 33% less waste, 25% less greenhouse gas, and 12% less energy, all of which is expected to continue to improve. The mill, achieving the first-in-the-world net zero water use validation, is continuous testimony that GBP is a leader in water and environmental stewardship. In 2021, the Green Bay mill returned 23,000,000 more gallons to the Great Lakes than withdrawn, utilizing ‘reclaimed’ municipal wastewater to replace freshwater demand.

“The Green Bay mill investment in technology, product innovation and sustainability performance is an accelerator that demonstrates Green Bay Packaging’s commitment to sustainability within our operations and as a product value-add solution for our customers,” says corporate environment and sustainability director, Lisa Bauer-Lotto.

Additionally, the zero waste to landfill initiative achieved 98% landfill diversion across all converting operations (in both within Wisconsin and nationally throughout the company), advancing recycling and beneficial use through upstream and downstream evaluation for product and material end-of-life solutions.

The Green Masters Program is an objective, points-based recognition, assessment benchmarking and certification program that enables Wisconsin businesses of all sizes and from any sector to join a group of like-minded companies working towards sustainability. The program has established three levels of participation: Green Apprentice, Green Professional, and Green Master. Green Bay Packaging joined the program as a Green Master in 2010. Each year at the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council Conference, the current top 20 percent of companies are identified and recognized as the Green Masters level companies and celebrated at WBSC’s Annual Sustainability Conference, which will be held this year on November 16th at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Green Bay Packaging is honored to have been part of the Green Masters program since its inception in 2010. The program reflects an important benchmark of progress alongside other likeminded Wisconsin businesses. Participation in the program has brought insight on alternative and mindful strategies for reducing the environmental footprint while increasing community and workforce engagement and welfare.

“The Green Masters Program is a tool for businesses to assess and develop their sustainability program, to benchmark against their industry and to receive a third party certification recognizing their achievements in sustainability,” says WSBC’s managing director, Jessy Servi Ortiz. “We are proud to have companies like Green Bay Packaging leading the way in Wisconsin.”

About Green Bay Packaging, Inc.

To learn more about Green Bay Packaging’s positive impact on surrounding areas click here

Net-Zero Water Validation Achieved by Green Bay Packaging

Green Bay Packaging's state-of-the-art paper mill in Green Bay Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, WI, February 22, 2022 – Green Bay Packaging announced today that the Green Bay mill achieved Net-Zero Water in its production of 100% recycled containerboard paper, the first-ever UL with validation of this environmental claim. Water is a vital community resource and Green Bay Packaging is committed to industry leading sustainable water use.

“Environmental sustainability has always been at the core of Green Bay Packaging’s values. Our goal is to operate the most environmentally friendly mill system in the United States, with water quality in our communities a primary focus,” says Green Bay Packaging President and CEO, William Kress.

The Net-Zero Water system at the Green Bay mill reduces water demand through use of reclaimed water and alternative water sources, offsetting the need for freshwater consumption. The goal in achieving “net-zero water” is to transform a water-intense process into a more efficient process, returning more water to the water source than has been removed.