Foreword 4.indd - Tata Steel

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sector Making it better Environmental awareness has dramatically changed the way manufacturers satisfy the needs of their markets. Foreword looks at this change and at one manufacturer, Blagden Packaging, to see the influence of environmental considerations upon the finished product—in this case, the steel drum. The wants of society have for a long time been bumping up against the wellbeing of the planet, with society’s wants generally winning out—until relatively recently. The evidence that society is using the world’s resources unskilfully is all around us. And yet those resources are the very basis of the economic and social development that civilisation has pursued since its inception. It is clear that the world’s capacity to support such development is limited. Recognising this, people and governments are acting to change the way we use the world’s resources. That change is described as ‘sustainable development’, a principle put on the international agenda in Our Common Future (The Bruntland Report), which arose from the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development. In that report, sustainable development is defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This principle has since been incorporated in legislation and in the policies of many companies and is changing the way manufacturers operate. Blagden Packaging includes in its mission statement the aim to be “an environmental good citizen”. The company offers products and services that satisfy the needs of its customers as well as environmental legislation. Performance first Apart from environmental considerations, steel drums have to meet demanding performance requirements. The steel drum is a mature product that has stood the test of time. Being made of steel, it is functionally and environmentally very successful. It is the preferred package for many products and industries across the world. Its shape makes it easy to handle and it performs to the very highest standards, for which it is rigorously tested to criteria set by the United Nations. These tests demand that drums are leak proof, easy to stack, vacuum and internal pressure-tight, and resistant to rupture when dropped, as in a fall from a lorry. Steel drums need to offer varied levels of strength, depending upon the specific gravity of the intended contents and the journey. For example, drums made from thicker steels are better able to withstand long journeys that may involve multiple handling or unstable transport, or both. Because drums may contain many possible substances, they must be available with removable lids for packing powders, greases, pastes, paints and 14 Foreword
sector resins, or with tight heads for packing liquids. Both the inside and outside surfaces of drums contribute to their performance. Purpose-designed lacquers give the insides of drums chemical resistance. Integral polyethylene liners are available for hazardous products. And of course, the drum needs to be an economic container. The design and manufacture of the steel drum together with the material from which it is made give it its virtues. Making it better With forty years of experience, Blagden Packaging is designing and manufacturing steel drums to the highest technical and quality standards. Steel is an ideal material for drums. Its inherent strength, weldability, formability and dimensional stability are the perfect combination for both its manufacture and its use. The variety of steel thicknesses available offers a choice of strength and rigidity according to the use of the drum and its typical journey. Because steel can be coated, users can obtain drums with interior coatings, if necessary, and drums painted in their own livery. High-quality steel from Corus combines with Blagden Packaging’s manufacturing and service excellence to produce not only a functionally superior product, but also one that can meet the requirements of legislation aimed at sustainable development. For the environment Environmentally, drums are subject to the European Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, which the UK government transposed into UK law as the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. The regulations apply to any UK business that manufactures, fills or sells packaging or packaging materials in excess of 50 tonnes per year and that has an annual turnover in excess of £2 million. The regulations also require each company to have a specific, quantified recovery target, which depends on the weight of material handled, expressed as a percentage of turnover, and the company’s ‘activity’. For example, Corus as a maker of raw materials for packaging must recover 6% of the weight of material handled, whereas Blagden Packaging must recover 9% of the weight of the material it handles. Companies subject to the regulations must register with a compliance scheme or with government agencies to provide data on the total tonnages of packaging handled for UK consumption. Packaging chain companies are obliged to hold Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) as evidence that their legal responsibility to recover and recycle has been fulfilled. Companies like Corus, which can recycle, and other re-processors, sell PRNs either to an obligated company or to a Compliance Scheme Activity on behalf of that company. The part steel plays Steel, which is one of the world’s most recyclable and recycled materials, has excellent environmental credentials. Approximately 40% of the world’s production of ‘new’ steel is made from recycled steel. Recycling steel scrap is fundamental to basic oxygen and electric arc steel making processes, the latter process using 100% scrap. Steel used for drums will typically contain 18-25% scrap steel. In 2004, Corus in the UK purchased 1.4 million tonnes of steel scrap externally from scrap merchants. When Corus’ own internal scrap and that prompted from customers are added to what it buys, the company recycles more steel by weight than anyone else in the UK. The ability of the steel drum to be reconditioned and re-used before it is recycled sets it apart from its plastic alternative. It also benefits from an effective, well-established reconditioning and recycling infrastructure. Closing the loop Blagden Packaging meets its environmental obligations through addedvalue services that recover, recondition and provide for the recycling of steel drums. The company collects used drums and supplies reconditioned ones, making repeated use simple and costeffective. This Closed Loop® system allows Blagden Packaging’s customers to fulfil their environmental duty of care by ensuring that all packaging that is released into the environment is filled, delivered, emptied, collected and recycled within a single integrated and accountable network. In addition, the internal and external coatings applied to drums comply with environmental legislation governing the use of heavy metal pigments and volatile organic compounds. Blagden Packaging’s expertise in the environmental area means that it can also offer consultancy services to drum users. The right choices Society’s recognition of its effect on the world in which it lives and, more significantly, its response, have been slow—over thirty years since the UN Conference on the Human Environment and seventeen years since the concept of sustainable development was brought to international attention. However, the influence of sustainable development upon all aspects of human life—particularly on the resources and methods that we use to develop our lives and our society—will unquestionably accelerate. There are some hard choices ahead. Drums are a well-established part of industry and commerce. Their manufacture from steel and their progress through reconditioning, reuse, recovery and ultimately recycling to become new products is a cycle that supports sustainable development. Every time a tonne of steel drums is eventually recycled, it saves*: 1.5 tonnes of iron ore 70% of energy 0.5 tonnes of coal 40% of water required in production Steel drums make it better. * Association of Drum Manufacturers, now under the wider representation of the Industrial Packaging Association (IPA), which includes all aspects of industrial packaging. Foreword 15
Page 1 and 2: The magazine of Corus Strip Product
Page 3 and 4: 4 9 10 14 16 Contents The magazine
Page 5 and 6: sector didn’t. We need to know wh
Page 7 and 8: service Material information Corus
Page 9 and 10: product delivery to the customer, a
Page 11 and 12: sector Rohit Kulkarni’s display C
Page 13: sector First impressions of the Des
Page 17 and 18: sector Is Corus involved in product
Page 19 and 20: news in brief Award for ‘New Llan

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