All case studies

ENVIRONMENT 

Developing specialist 

products and source materials 

There is no question that packaging brings 

value to consumers and their safety, it protects 

products from damage, prolongs the life of 

food and drinks and protects goods from 

contamination. Our challenge is to continue 

to produce packaging that provides these 

vital services whilst considering the other 

environmental impacts. 

These include constantly reviewing the amount 

of packaging needed per product, the amount/ 

type of raw materials required to produce it 

and the biodegradability of products after use. 

Packaging will 

always add value to 

products, now we 

must ensure it adds 

value to our planet 

Plastic resin is one of the most commonly 

used materials in the packaging of consumer 

goods. From food to cosmetics and medicines 

to beverage containers. Most of us come into 

contact with at least one of these products on 

a daily basis. But what happens when these 

products reach the end of their use? A small 

responsibility 

case study 

percent is recycled but the majority is sent to 

landfill sites around the world. 

Specialist materials 

Our Sussex plastics site in Wisconsin, United 

States, has been working with suppliers to 

develop specialist 

products and 

source materials. 

They strongly feel 

that bio-based 

resins are more 

than just a replacement for petroleum-based 

resins. That they offer a chance to rethink and 

redefine the role that packaging plays, 

especially in the cosmetics market, and that 

these products could create a, potentially 

huge, market opportunity for brands. 

Below are some of the products and concepts 

available for bio-based injection-mouldable 

resins using materials such as wood, hemp, 

cotton and even corn sugar as a base material 

to supplement, in part or in whole, the use of 

petroleum based resins. Each carries various 

positive and negative values and some 

are still in the relatively early stages of 

development, but at least by investigating 

and communicating the availability of such 

products, we can help gain the media attention 

and customer interest required to develop 

them further. 

* to specified limits 

Current alternatives 

to plastic resin 

RAW MATERIALS 

Wood filled and 

Fibre filled 

polyolefins 

Positives: Have been 

available for 10+ 

years, easy to process, low cost. 

Negatives: Not biodegradable, limited 

appearance, odour. 

“Liquid Wood” - 

Technaro’s Arboform 

Properties are closer to 

wood than plastic 

Positives: 

Biodegradeable. 

Negatives: difficult to mould, currently 

limited production capabilities, limited 

appearance, odour 

Polyactic Acid - 

Natureworks PLA 

Corn based polymer 

Positives: Easy to 

process, already 

wide-spread use mainly in thermoforming 

applications, cost, FDA approved for food 

contact,* biodegradable 

Negatives: Limited heat resistance 

Polyhydroxylcanoate - 

Matabolix PHA 

Positives: rigid elastic 

properties, * biodegradeable, 

excellent shelf life, resistance 

to hot liquids, greases, oils. 

Negatives: no commercial applications yet

ENVIRONMENT 


Beverage Can 

Using recycled aluminium 

Aluminium is created through the extraction 

of bauxite from the earth. Bauxite is a plentiful 

resource that most commonly occurs in Africa, 

West Indies, South America and Australia 

although there are some deposits in Europe. 

The process of producing aluminium starts with 

open cast mining of the bauxite (typically some 

4-6 metres thick under a shallow covering of 

topsoil and vegetation), followed by refining, 

smelting, extrusion and finally rolling. The more 

recycled content our suppliers can use (in 

place of bauxite), the less the need for further 

mining excavation of lands and the less energy, 

fuel and water is required for the process. 

Aluminium (along with Glass) is one of the 

most recyclable products used in consumer 

packaging. The aluminium can is 100% 

recyclable, especially as there are no labels 

or covers to be removed. Most recycling 

processes use gas collected from burning off 

the volatile substances in can coatings to 

provide heat for the process, so every last bit 

of energy is used. 

Aluminium companies have invested heavily 

over recent decades in dedicated metal 

processing plants to recycle aluminium, to 

the point where used beverage cans can be 

collected, recycled, re-processed and refilled 

and be back on supermarket shelves in as 

little as 6-8 weeks*. 

At Rexam, we try to track the amount of 

recycled content in the aluminium we buy. 

Although this percentage does vary (based 

The aluminium can is 100% recyclable 

on the supplying company, country and the 

availability of recyclable aluminium in certain 

markets), we are seeing some of our core 

suppliers recycled content rates reach up to 

88% in the aluminium used for body stock 

(the base and main part of the can) and 83.5 

% for end stock (for the top end of the can). 

There are obviously numerous factors 

affecting this mix, but the industry standard 

rate globally averages out at closer to 50%. 

Our Aluminium suppliers are extremely active 

in setting up and supporting local and global 

recycling schemes and many have there own 

extensive programmes. These programmes 

range from tree planting and biodiversity 

programs where bauxite mines are located, 

to recycling schemes to help raise community 

awareness, implement recycling banks and 


facilities, educate youngsters in schools and 

encourage consumer participation in the 

recycling of household waste. 

For more information on some of our supplier’s 

schemes please see the following links: 

www.alcoa.com/alcoa_recycling/en/home. 

asp 

www.thinkcans.com/ 

www.alcan.com/Human Rights 

Or check the International Aluminium 

Institutes site and downloadable documents 

for a summary and the results of their Bauxite 

Mine Rehabilitation Survey: 

www.world-aluminium.org/production/ 

mining/ 

* In those countries which have dedicated can collecting 

and recycling schemes 

RAW MATERIALS

ENVIRONMENT 

Promoting the benefits of 

recycling household waste 

To promote the environmental benefits of the 

beverage can and encourage recycling of 

household waste, Rexam has been working 

with Crown, a fellow packaging producer, in 

Turkey. 

The results of a consumer survey showed a 

distinct lack of awareness of the benefits by 

consumers and a need for change. So a 

strategy was put in place to highlight the 

environmental advantages of the metal can. 

Awareness 

A number of activities took place using TV 

and national press as well as school activities. 

A key project was held in a large residential 

area of Istanbul called ‘Ataşehir’ (approx. 

60,000 people). In cooperation with the 

CEVKO Environmental Organisation and the 

Kadıköy Municipality, 60 recycling bins were 

allocated and placed throughout the area in 

specific locations with the hope of encouraging 

local residents to recycle household waste. 



To help raise community awareness, a 

celebration was held in Ataşehir where 

representatives from Rexam, Crown, CEVKO 

and the media were present along with The 

Mayor of Kadıköy, residents and school 

children from the area. 

WASTE MANAGEMENT 

By encouraging recycling among 

school children we can have a 

greater impact on reducing waste, 

now and for the future 

Children from the local school enjoy a percussion performance using cans as instuments in 

Istanbul, Turkey 

The celebrations included a speech by Rexam 

to highlight the importance of the environmental 

responsibilities of corporate companies, and 

a highly successful percussion performance 

by a local primary school where children 

used instruments made from aluminium cans.

ENVIRONMENT 

Avoiding waste by using 

recyclable aluminium cores 

The aluminium we use is sent to us in large 

coils 10,000 metres in length, that are wrapped 

around either a cardboard or aluminium 

‘core’. We purchase approximately 23,000 

of these in Europe every year to manufacture 

our beverage cans. This means there is 

potentialy 23,000 cardboard coil cores sent 

to landfill waste sites each year in Europe 

alone. 

Avoiding waste 

When the coil supplied has an aluminium 

core, they can be crushed flat and sent back 



to our aluminium suppliers and recycled, 

creating no waste. Two of our four European 

suppliers have therefore been converted to 

using aluminium cores, with the intention 

of converting the remaining two by the 

beginning of 2007. 

This change reduces the amount of waste 

going to landfill and greatly reducing the 

amount of transport needed to return the coil 

cores to suppliers, due to our ability to crush 

and compact the metal cores on site ready 

for transit. 


Reducing waste to 

landfill and eliminating 

unnecessary transports 

Onsite waste bins containing the old cardboard 

coil cores waiting to be picked up by suppliers 

Used new aluminium cores after having been 

crushed and palletised on site ready for recycling

ENVIRONMENT 

Working with steel suppliers to 

reduce waste 

We have launched a number of projects in 

relation to the steel we use to manufacture 

beverage cans. Each project is different and 

has varying impacts. 

A common theme through them all is the 

minimisation of scrap steel or coil packaging 

going to landfill sites around the world, 

together with the additional benefits of the 

reduction of transport required. 

”By working with 

suppliers we share 

the benefits with 

the whole industry” 

Maximising steel coil weights 

We aim to maximise the steel coil weights 

used within our sites to help achieve the 

following environmental benefits: 

• Less fuel and trucks used to deliver the 

coils. 

• Less packaging required (wood, metal and 

plastic). 

• Less use of forked lift trucks at our site 

reducing fuel consumption. 

Three of our major steel suppliers have been 

asked to look at producing the maximum 



possible coil weights within their production 

constraints that can be processed at our steel 

plants within their coil handling capabilities. 

The project is progressing well despite the 

constraints experienced by the suppliers in 

the restriction of maximum ‘payloads’ that 

can be transported by truck within Europe. 

Reducing packaging 

We also have a project looking at reducing 

the amount of packaging used by suppliers 

on their steel coils arriving at our sites. 

The constraint on this project is to not 

compromise the level of protection required 

for the coils in transit, but to establish the 

lowest acceptable level of packaging 

necessary to prevent damage to steel whilst 

being transported and to protect it against 

the weather (steel rusts!). The environmental 

benefits for this are less packaging and less 

packaging disposal required (waste). 

Laser welded coils 

Steel coils are traditionally welded by 

conventional non-laser methods. When coils 

of this nature are run at our sites, the line is 

stopped and the section of coil containing the 

weld is cut out – usually two or so meters. 

With the introduction of laser welded coils, 

our lines have detectors that identify the laser 

weld position on the coil and alert line 

operators who then momentarily stop the line 

to sweep out the can cups formed at the line 

of the weld with subsequent minimal loss of 

metal. 

The benefits here are: 


• Easier maximisation of coil weights as 

Rexam allows a higher ratio of laser coil 

welds than “conventional” welds. The 

benefits of higher coils weights are listed 

earlier. 

• More steel per coil is used to make cans. 

This means that there is better use of the 

energy used to produce the coil. 

• Less scrap is produced during the process. 

These changes per coil may not seem that 

much, but when you consider the number of 

coils used (over 12,000 p.a.) and the 

number of steel cans produced (over 4 billion 

p.a.), the impacts are significant.

ENVIRONMENT 

Raising community action and 

awareness of recycling aluminium 

Efforts to raise awareness of recycling 

Rexam takes part in many initiatives to promote 

the importance of recycling or products in the 

countries and communities in which we 

operate. 

For example, visitors to our Nogora site in 

Italy, were welcomed by a giant can positioned 

outside the entrance. The can stood two 

metres tall and one metre wide and made 

entirely out of aluminium cans. 

The project, to promote aluminium recycling. 

was the result of our ongoing partnership 

with CIAL, the National Consortium for 

Aluminium Packaging Recycling and Recovery 

in Italy, www.cial.it 

America Recycles Day 

America Recycles Day is held in November 

and all of our North American Beverage Can 

sites work diligently to involve local communities 

and show just how easy it is to recycle. 

Their efforts paid off well as they competed 

to take the recycling crown from the current 

holder. Fremont. St. Paul came in second 

place with 68,623 pounds, 686 pounds per 

employee. And Whitehouse came in third 

with 77,782 pounds, 665 pounds per 

employee. 

“We are so proud of our people and sites,” 

said Al Bohner, senior vice president, Rexam 

BCNA. “In addition to constantly raising the 

bar on operational performance, our sites 

also lead their respective communities in 

doing right by the environment and showing 



their pride and support for the product we 

make. Congratulations to all of our locations 

who participated in this very cont.... 

..important effort. And I look forward to 

another strong year of community leadership 

and involvement.” 

The Rexam contest coincides with the Aluminium 

Can Challenge which is an annual event 

sponsored by the Aluminium Can Council. 

The Aluminium Can Council is made up of 

representatives of the can makers and the 

aluminium sheet suppliers. And if history is 

any indication, Rexam’s Fremont site should 

run away with the industry title once again 

this year. 

RECYCLING 

”It’s time we stopped 

turning up our noses 

at the nation’s garbage 

dumps and started 

appreciating them for 

what they really are – the 

municipal mines, forests, 

oil wells and energy 

sources of the future! 

Max Spendlove, February 1972

Brazil named recycling world 

champions for the 4th year running 

In 2004, Brazil, for the fourth year running, 

set the world record for the recycling of 

aluminium beverage cans, at 95.7%, 6.7% 

higher than the previous record. 

“This improvement is due to various factors. 

The main aspect is the fact that the recycling 

market in Brazil is already established all 

over the country”, says André Balbi, Sector 

Director, Rexam Beverage Can South America. 

He adds: “This is an organized activity, with 

drop-off locations, facilitated transportation 

and sales. Recycling is also an important, 

alternative income source for the poor. Around 

160 thousand people dedicate themselves 

exclusively to the activity”. 

André Balbi highlights other factors which 

contribute for the progress of recycling in 

Brazil as the environmental education programs 

in communities and schools and the participation 

of all classes of society. From 2000 to 2004, 

the participation of housing condos and clubs 

in the drop-off of used cans increased from 

10% to 19%. 

Another relevant factor is the establishment of 

associations all over the country: the cooperation 

of these entities with the drop-off of aluminium 

cans jumped from 43% to 52% in the last 

four years. 

To put some figures to these efforts; Brazilian 

performance reached the rate of 121.3 

“I only feel angry when I see waste. 

When I see people throwing away things we could use.” 

Mother Teresa 

ENVIRONMENT, RECYCLING 

thousand tons of recycled aluminium cans in 

2004, which corresponds to some 9 billion 

cans per year or 25 million cans per day!

ENVIRONMENT 

PET bottle recycling in Europe 

breaks new record 

What is PET? 

Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET as it is 

more commonly known is a light and strong 

form of clear polyester made from modified 

ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid. 

PET was originally produced to be used in 

fibres, but in the 1960 started to be used for 

packaging films. It was then further developed 

in the 1970’s in bottles (once a technique 

was commercially developed for ‘blowing 

bi-axially orientated’ bottles). Bottles now 

represent the most significant use of PET 

moulding resins. 

Bottles 

In Europe there are two main types of PET 

bottles produced: 

• Single use - bottles that are filled, used 

once, then recycled into PET shavings 

• Re-fillable - bottles that are filled, returned 

by customers, extensively cleaned and then 

re-filled and re-used (several times over) 

Single use bottles are used all over the world, 

previously mainly for non-carbonated soft 

drinks, but now increasingly for carbonated 

soft drinks, beer and other alcoholic 

beverages. The PET shavings produced as a 

result of recycling these bottles are then used 

mainly as polyester fibres (>70%) for use, for 

example, in clothing or as the stuffing in 

anoraks and sleeping bags. The remaining 

material is split between new PET bottles, 

polyester sheets and strapping. 

Re-fillable bottles are used less due to the 

required technology needing to be in place 



to test the products for its inertness to absorb 

and transmit flavours (to ensure that flavours 

from products previously contained in the 

bottle are not transmitted to new products 

with which the bottle may be filled). Due to 

the lack of historically available methods, 

specialist laboratories in Finland, Germany, 

Sweden and the Netherlands had to develop 

a ‘sensory’ method for testing but with the 

advancement of lacquers and sensory 

devices this technology continues to 

strengthen year on year. 

Increased recycling 

Whichever type of bottle are used, both are 

recyclable and every bottle re-used or 

RECYCLING 

recycled prevents more waste going to 

landfill and less energy required for 

processing. Such has been the success of 

recycling PET bottles in Europe that the rate 

has increased, regularly breaking its own 

recorded rates, year on year and is 

forecasted to rise by 35% in the next year. 

With new technology developing for 

additional uses of PET fibres, we could see 

rises in production and use continue for many 

years to come. 

Rexam is a member of The PET Containers 

Recycling Europe association (PETCORE). 

See the PETCORE website: www.petcore.org

ENVIRONMENT 

Energy recovery at Le Treport 

Our Dispensing systems site at Le Treport, in 

France, produces plastic pumps and valves 

for the Pharmaceutical, Cosmetic and 

Fragrance industry. 

To create these products we use a process 

that transforms granulated plastics (using heat 

and pressure) into injection moulds. The site 

has more than 100 injection presses that 

consume electricity to heat the plastic and use 

chilled water to refresh the moulds during the 

cycle. Gas boilers are also used to keep the 

buildings and the workshops warm during 

winter months. 

”The results were 

clear straight away 

and the site 

reduced their gas 

consumption” 

Exchanger 

Luc Teichmann, Energy and Fluids Manager 

at our Le Treport site in France, had the idea 

to save the calories from the water that was 

re-heated after cooling the moulds. He 

studied the possibility of using a water / 

water exchanger - one side linked to the back 

loop of the chilled water, the other side linked 

to the heating water pipes of the boilers. 

With minimal costs, the equipment was 

adjusted and installed and the connection 

was completed. The results were clear straight 



away and the site reduced their gas consumption 

that was previously used to heat the buildings. 

Commenting on the project, Luc said; “The 

system is simple and requires minimal 

maintenance. The additional savings come 

from the yield of the chilled water groups that 

is better due to the lower gap between the 

main and the back loops.” 

Supporting figures: 

“The system 

is simple and 

requires minimal 

maintenance” 

• Yearly average gas use before 2004: 400 000 kWh 

• During 2004: 36 000 kWh 

• Since 2005: < 1 000 kWh 

That means 4000 tons of natural gas and 9000 tons of CO 2 are 

saved every year. 

ENERGY

ENVIRONMENT 

Reducing energy usage 

in our glass production 

Across all our operations, glass production is 

the most energy intensive part of our 

business. 

Specifically, during the melting process where 

recycled glass cullet and raw materials are 

melted down to a homogenous glass mass. 

Further energy is then used to operate flue 

gas abatement systems that cool the furnace’s 

outside walls, to provide compressed air, to 

operate ovens which remove stress from the 

container and for process support equipment. 

Energy usage 

Energy usage in the melting process has been 

the focus of much research and development 

for many years with several improvements 

and reductions already made. A project 

supported by an external energy consultant, 

is being steered within our organisation by 

engineers and our lean six sigma function. 

The target is to identify, define and prioritise 

potential efficiency improvements. 

The expected reduction in consumed energy 

will have a positive impact on energy 

consumption, emissions and operational costs 

to the business. 

Audit 

As a first step, an extensive energy efficiency 

audit is carried out by a specialist external 

auditor. This assessment includes process 

mapping, detailed consumer specific analysis 

of differing energy consumption rates, 

identification of energy losses and finally the 



prioritisation of the identified areas. The 

results help finalise the audit conclusions. The 

external auditor compared Neuenhagen with 

other glass manufacturing sites and 

commented “Neuenhagen’s energy efficiency 

is probably better than most other glass 

plants in the world. This is mainly due to 

careful initial design, modern installed 

technology, use of pre-heating, use of 

variable speed drives and implemented 

efficiency improvements.” 

Next steps 

Once the full results are received, our next 

steps will be to develop the relevant technical 

improvement concepts to facilitate the change 

ENERGY 

required. This will include; comparison of 

existing equipment and processes to the best 

relevant available technique, technical and 

economic feasibility studies, risk assessments 

and finally, investment, implementation and 

change management plans. 

As a result of this audit we will be able to 

define specific benchmarks and best 

practices within our glass manufacturing 

operations, which will be used to identify 

further efficiency potentials in all our sites in 

order to mitigate the impacts of increasing 

energy prices, and reduce energy 

consumption and the resulting emissions to 

the environment.

ENVIRONMENT 

Best practice examples of 

La Salva Spain. 

Our La Selva can plant in Spain has been 

identified as a good example for identifying 

electricity savings, having achieved energy 

reductions. 

The project, planned and implemented by Ian 

Grant, one of our resident Energy Engineers, 

looked at energy saving in the UK in line with 

climate change agreements. After seeing 

positive results, the project was then taken to 

other European Beverage can sites including 

our La Selva facility in Spain. 

Process map 

Commenting on the project, Ian explains 

“The process starts by setting up a team to 

produce a process map that includes investment 

and pay backs. Some savings, such as process 

adjustments, come free and others need 

investment in resources or equipment”. He 

adds “We took a ‘zero tolerance’ attitude to 

the process map, so all projects were listed 

no matter what the cost.” 

He continues “We have learnt along the way 

and built the resulting improvements into the 

project so we now have a suite of roll out 

projects available. But each site still throws 

up a surprise with new ideas.” 

Ownership 

Ian praises the local engineering teams and 

identified our people on site as ‘the core tool 

for success’, adding “We took this approach 

to achieve ownership from the sites. We now 

reclaim energy, replace and modify machines 



and introduce new technology along with 

changes to operational procedures” 

Success 

What does he put the success down to? 

“Senior management support is vital, and 

Jose Angel Marti, site manager at La Selva, 

provided it for us. With local management 

support and help from Andy Backhouse, our 

European businesses Engineering and Lean 

Six Sigma Director, we can tackle any 

problems that arise.” 

So far the project has managed to cut nearly 

10% from our European beverage can 

operations energy consumption. 

Extrema, Brazil. 

Our Extrema site in Brazil, has been identified 

as having the best practice process in the 

area of Gas reduction by a Lean Enterprise 

audit and asked to share this best practice for 

roll out in our European plants. 

ENERGY 

energy reduction 

From left to right: Ian Grant, Mark Deakin, 

Antonio Florencio, Manuel Mansergas and 

Jose Bove, the team in our La Selva plant 

The project involved installing gas measuring 

equipment for measuring and monitoring the 

flame quality of burners, and modifying the 

can washer oven air distribution fans and air 

flows. This has generated numerous savings. 

Commenting on the implementation of the 

Brazilian designed process at our La Selva 

plant in Spain, site manager Jose Angel Marti, 

is delighted with the results, “The recent 

benchmarking activity was an extremely 

useful exercise, and I am proud to be part of 

such a dynamic team who are continuously 

discovering and implementing new initiatives. 

This new benchmarking process will enable 

Rexam to further strengthen its world class 

status.” 

The processes to reduce gas utilisation, 

has already been successfully shared and 

implemented in our other sites in Europe with 

a view to extending roll out further in the future. 

The team in our Extrema plant, Brazil, 

responsible for identifying and implementing 

the ’best practice’ process 

From left to right: Walmir Ladislau de Toledo, 

Carlos Antonio Correia and Marcos Rosa.

ENVIRONMENT 

Rexam Berlin site 

named as ’exemplary’ 

The Berlin Environment Authority recently 

recommended our Berlin site as ‘a 

representative German plant with an 

exemplary performance in the reduction of 

pollutants resulting from mass-production of 

coated metals’. 

Based on the Environment Authority’s 

recommendation, the German institute for 

ecology and policy (Ökopol GmbH), in 

Hamburg, asked them to host a visiting group 

of 25 delegates from the Taiwanese 

Environmental Protection Administration. The 

delegates were on a visit to Germany as an 

extension to their studies to understand more 

about environmental protection through 

pollution control 

(as part of the Environmental Pollutants 

Characteristics and Control Techniques 

Training program). 

Oxidizer technology 

A short presentation was given on the history 

of the Rexam Berlin site and our production 

processes, followed by details of the Oxidizer 

technology the plant has installed for 

destroying Volatile Organic Compound 

(VOC) emissions and the necessary reporting 

required by the local authorities. 



by the Berlin Environment Authority 

After the presentations the delegates were 

taken on a tour of the facilities and shown 

our technology. Throughout each of the 

presentations and the tour the delegates were 

able to ask questions regarding emissions 

and the solutions we have in place, all of 

which our team were happy to answer and 

expand on whenever necessary. 

EMISSIONS 

Rexam Berlin 

“a representative 

German plant with 

exemplory performance 

in the reduction of 

pollutants ...” 

Delegates from the Taiwanese Environment Protection Administration during their visit to Rexam Berlin

ENVIRONMENT 

Reducing volatile organic 

compounds in can making 

In the beverage can making process, 

aluminium and steel coils are converted into 

cans via a draw wall iron process, with 

subsequent coating, decoration and lacquering. 

Since 1996, our beverage can operations in 

Europe and the Middle East have implemented 

progressive environmental management systems 

(EMS) in accordance with the requirements of 

ISO 14001 in their manufacturing locations. 

This has allowed us to adopt a continuous 

improvement philosophy in minimizing 

environmental impacts. 

The work done to reduce the level of volatile 

organic compounds (VOCs) used during our 

production process (by switching to water- 

based coatings and lacquers) is one example 

that demonstrates our commitment to resource 

efficiency. 

The switch has allowed us to reduce the level 

of VOCs emitted to atmosphere by 50% over 

the last ten years. It has also further reduced 

the level of VOCs present within manufacturing 

locations as well as the VOC content of any 

waste coatings and lacquers not used in the 

process. Water-based materials also provide 

options for compliance with the EU Directive 

13/99/EC. 

Thermal oxidisers 

Typically thermal oxidisers are required to 

allow compliance with VOC emission 

concentration limits, but the move away from 

high solvent materials means that abatement 

is not always required to meet legal 



compliance. As a result, CO2 emissions are 

significantly reduced through a reduction in 

the use of gas fired incinerators. In addition, 

moving up the supply chain, the drive for 

water-based materials has also reduced 

suppliers’ VOC emissions. 

Collaborative working 

The reduction in VOC’s has been achieved 

by working collaboratively with key direct 

material suppliers. Suppliers are allocated 

projects and targets to develop reduced VOC 

products e.g. water-based materials. Their 

progress is then measured through our formal 

supplier development programme, which 

includes regular reviews and support when 

and where required. By making this a part of 

the Rexam Supplier Development Programme, 

suppliers are motivated to continually 

improve their products to help meet our 

environmental requirements. Subsequently a 

partnership approach is adopted to enable 

continual improvements in VOC reductions. 

In addition to asking our suppliers to reduce 

VOC’s, the business actively encourages 

direct material suppliers to consider the 

development of a ‘step-change’ technology 

that could potentially eliminate VOC 

emissions entirely from their products. 

The development of such coatings incurs 

research and development costs. However, 

the environmental benefits, together with the 

cost savings in avoiding purchase of 

abatement equipment and their associated 

running costs, are significant, specifically a 

reduction in hazardous waste quantities and 

improved coating and print quality. 

EMISSIONS 

“Adopting a 

continuous 

improvement 

philosophy in 

minimizing our 

Environmental 

impacts”

ENVIRONMENT 

EMISSIONS 

Reducing emissions using 

natural solutions 

VOC’s are the ‘Volatile Organic Compounds’ 

released into the atmosphere as a result of 

numerous companies manufacturing processes 

around the world. In a domestic capacity, we 

all come into contact with VOC’s regularly, 

for example; when you open a tin of paint 

there is an unpleasant smell, this smell is mainly 

composed of VOC’s. In Rexam’s Cosmetic 

Closures business, VOC’s are emitted as a 

result of our varnishing processes. 

Although there are multiple options for VOC 

reduction available to any business, many of 

these require large amounts of energy to run 

the equipment involved, thus actually increasing 

energy usage and, as a result, other harmful 

emissions. At Rexam we use several different 

methods to treat VOC’s to try to ensure we emit 

only cleansed air into the atmosphere. One of 

the most ecologically friendly solutions is the 

use of Peat Pits to absorb VOC’s prior to release. 

Peat pits use a bio filtration system for the 

treatment of any polluting gas emissions. The 

process and equipment is described and 

pictured to the right: 



How does it work? 

Firstly, the air that contains VOC’s is collected 

using a network of specialised pipes that are 

placed on the roof to drain the air from the 

workshop below (see figure 1). 

The main pipe (figure 2), then carries the 

polluted air to the washing equipment. 

The purpose of the washing equipment (figure 

3) is to separate any hard particles from the 

extracted air. The polluted air is then pushed 

through a peat pit using a ventilator. (Figure 

4 shows the 600 m3 peat pit whilst it was in 

construction prior to the roof being fitted). 

In the peat there are enzymes that ‘’eat’’ any 

VOC’s thus destroying them before they can 

enter into the atmosphere. 

In 2001, Rexam received an award for this 

equipment and process, which was the first of 

this kind (for varnishing plastic parts for 

cosmetics) to be installed in France. 

Pictured below: The team responsible for the 

peat pit project, holding the award presented 

to them in October 2001. 

Figure 1 

Figure 2 

Figure 3 

Figure 4

ENVIRONMENT 

North American can plants on a 

drive to save water 

Water usage is an area our North American 

Beverage Can businesses are successfully 

addressing to reduce the environmental 

impacts of their operations. 

While in production, cans must be washed, 

to remove the oils and lubricants used in the 

shaping process, and then rinsed to remove 

washer chemicals. On average, the washing 

and rinsing of cans accounts for roughly 80% 

of our can sites total water usage. 

To reduce this usage, new rinse risers with 

high efficiency nozzles have been installed in 

can washers. These risers clean cans more 



efficiently, meaning our sites purchase less 

water. The new rinse risers are also half the 

weight of the old ones, they are easily 

replaced without the use of tools, and the 

nozzles are colour coded for easy 

identification. To date, the new rinse risers 

have been installed at several of our North 

American facilities where results seen so far 

have been fantastic, with monthly reductions 

of approximately 50% water usage. Roll out 

will now continue to the remainder of our 

North American Beverage Can businesses. 

Commenting on the programme, Al Bohner, a 

Senior VP at Rexam BCNA said; “This is just 

another avenue to raise the bar on performance 

while proactively setting a favourable 

example in the community.” 

Results so far have been fantastic, 

with monthly reductions of 

approximately 50% 

WATER

ENVIRONMENT 

Biodiversity 

Novelis is the global leader in aluminium 

rolled products and beverage can recycling. 

With world-class rolling mills and advanced 

technology, Novelis produces aluminium 

sheet and foil products for high-value market 

applications. 

Achieving leading environmental, health and 

safety performance is a guiding principle for 

Novelis and they are dedicated to supporting 

the success of their stakeholders, especially 

their customers, employees, shareholders 

and communities, through excellence in 

environmental management, health, and safety. 

With 00% of Novelis’ sites ISO 400 

certified, they are committed to minimizing 

their environmental footprint by optimizing 

raw material usage through process 

improvements, implementation of energy 

efficient technologies and promoting 

recycling and other conservation practices. 

Biodiversity 

For Novelis, biodiversity management is 

generally addressed as part of its environmental 

program. Novelis does not have a major 

direct impact on biodiversity at the majority 

of the Company’s operations, which are 

aluminium rolling and recycling, with a small 

presence in bauxite mining and primary 

aluminium production within Brazil. However, 

Novelis makes efforts to indirectly preserve 

biodiversity by minimizing the impact of their 

industrial operations on the biosphere 



through avoiding emissions to air, water and 

land to the maximum possible amount. 

Strategic Approach 

Novelis has various strategies to support 

biodiversity improvements where the 

Company has a presence worldwide. Four 

example areas of this include: 

1. Natural Resource Conservation 

Conserve, reduce and recycle through: 

• Established long term objectives that are 

tracked through Novelis’ management 

process and EHS steering committees at 

plant, regional and global levels. 

• Environmental and business metrics are 

employed to measure performance and 

progress. 

– – 

• Energy Management Process focuses on 

both conservation and installation of 

leading edge equipment technologies to 

assure reduced energy consumption. A 

sophisticated monitoring system is in place 

to assure anticipated benefits are actually 

realized. 

• Waste reduction and elimination through 

the implementation of many continuous 

improvement and EHS strategic initiatives 

projects 

• Adhere to policy mandates 

2. Recycling 

BIODIVERSITY 

management at Novelis 

Recycling is a fundamental element of 

Novelis’ corporate sustainability effort. As the 

world’s largest aluminium beverage can 

recycler, Novelis annually recycles more than

35 billion used aluminium beverage cans. Of 

its global facilities, six are devoted to 

recycling post-consumer aluminium as well as 

scrap aluminium generated during the 

manufacturing process. This recycled metal is 

then utilized by Novelis’ own rolling facilities 

to produce can sheet –- an economical and 

efficient process. This process can continue in 

an endless loop, because aluminium maintains 

its original quality through the recycling 

process and re-use. 

Novelis has implemented and supports 

recycling programs directly or through 

associations in various countries: 

• In Brazil, Novelis has assumed a leadership 

role to increase the region’s acceptance 

of aluminium cans and the environmental 

and social benefits of recycling through 

educational programs on the advantages 

of aluminium recycling, and collaborated 

with some 300 schools in doing so. 

• Novelis is the leading aluminium can 

recycler in Europe. They operateEurope’s 

only dedicated UBC plant which produces 

new can sheet material. They recycle cans 

and are actively involved in education and 

awareness activities right across the 

continent. 

• Novelis sponsors America Recycles Day; 

The Cans For Cash program co-sponsored 

with the U.S. Conference of Mayors; an 

active member and supporter of Cans for 

Habitat program; and The Aluminium Can 

Council Curbside Value Partnership (CVP), 

a national partnership between the aluminium 

industry and material recovery facility 

(MRF) operators, local officials and 

organizations interested in recycling. 

Aluminium produced from scrap requires 95 

percent less energy than is needed to produce 

primary aluminium – which means that up to 

95 percent of related emissions such as 

greenhouse gases are also avoided. Reductions 

of that magnitude take on added significance 

at a time of increased concerns about climate 

change and its associated impacts on 

biodiversity. 

Specifically, here are some of the environmental 

impacts avoided through recycling: 

• 95% energy savings 

• Greenhouse gas emissions avoided – 

tonne of recycled aluminium avoids 

emissions of approx. 0 tonnes of CO 

• Reduced use of natural resources 

• Chemical use reduced (acids, bases) 

– 50 kg of caustic soda – 8 kg of 

aluminium fluoride – 86 kg of lime 

• tonne of recycled metal eliminates the 

need for 5 tonnes of bauxite, thus 

eliminating the need for more mining 

• tonne of recycled aluminium eliminates 

the generation of nearly tonnes of red 

mud, eliminating the need for red mud 

treatment in ponds/impounds reducing the 

overall processes impact on biodiversity 

• Recycling minimizes the overall impact on 

biodiversity 

3. External Stakeholder Requirements 

Novelis is committed to compliance with 

policy mandates, legal requirements and 

local stakeholder needs related to biodiversity 

such as: 

• Emission regulations (air, water, landfill) 

• Wetlands protection legislation 

• Navigable water protection 

ENVIRONMENT, BIODIVERSITY 

• Acquisitions and divestiture process – A 

responsible approach that assures 

biodiversity issues are addressed during 

acquisitions and divestitures (going beyond 

compliance with the law) 

4. Novelis Bauxite Mine Rehabilitation 

Program 

This includes: 

• Top Soil Management – Valuable organic 

top soils are collected and stockpiled prior 

to the mining operation 

• Species collection, transport and 

propagation – Native seeds and sprouts 

are selected based on indigenous flora 

analysis – Seeds and sprouts are 

transported to nurseries that have been 

specially designed for developing these 

native seeds and sprouts – Plants are 

monitoring in the nurseries during the 

growing season 

• Re-vegetation through inclusion of the 

collected species in reforested areas – 

Stockpiled top soil is distributed – Native 

plants are replanted in areas to be 

rehabilitated 

• Monitoring program – Replanted areas are 

monitored for survival rate, growth and 

spread during the rehabilitation process 

and action is taken wherever necessary. 

For more information on Novelis’s biodiversity and other environmental programmes, please visit 

their website at www.novelis.com.

ENVIRONMENT 

Rexam is a member or supporter or numerous raw material and industry associations 

around the world. These associations are important mechanisms for positive change 

in the processes and environmental performance of entire industries such as 

Aluminium mining, raw material extraction and packaging production. 

Here are details of some of the associations which Rexam support or are active 

members in: 

Aluminium Association 

The Aluminum Association, Inc. is the trade 

association for producers of primary 

aluminum, recyclers and semi-fabricated 

aluminum products, as well as suppliers to 

the industry. Based in Washington, D.C., 

with offices in Detroit, Michigan, the 

Association provides leadership to the 

industry through its programs and services 

which aim to enhance aluminum’s position 

in a world of proliferating materials, increase 

its use as the ”material of choice,” remove 

impediments to its fullest use, and assist in 

achieving the industry’s environmental, 

societal, and economic objectives. Member 

companies operate about 200 plants in the 

U.S and many conduct business worldwide. 

www.aluminum.org 



British Plastics Federation 

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the 

leading trade association of the UK Plastics 

Industry (representing approximately 80% of 

turnover), a springboard for industry action, 

existing to exploit common opportunities and 

resolve shared problems. www.bpf.co.uk 

Beverage Can Makers Europe 

The BCME is a non-profit making association, 

whose prime objective is to promote the 

beverage can in Europe and to communicate 

market data. www.bcme.org 

RAW MATERIALS 

Raw Material 

Associations 

Movimento Brasil Competitivo 

The Competitive Movement of Brazil’s 

objective is to leverage competitiveness of 

private organisations, in a sustainable way, 

whilst contributing to the improvement of the 

quality of life of the general population. 

www.mbc.org.br 

European Secretariat of Manufacturers 

of Light Metal Packaging 

SEFEL is a European organisation, established 

in 1959 with headquarters in Brussels, 

representing the metal packaging and metal 

closures industry in the countries of the 

European Union. www.sefel.org

La Chambre Syndicale des Emballages 

en Matiere Plastique 

CSEMP is the French professional association 

of plastic packaging manufacturers. It is the 

chief negotiating party for public authorities, 

institutions and companies. Through the 

association the plastic packaging industry 

has an influential role to play, acting as a 

federated force, honouring its environmental 

responsibilities and promoting a positive 

image for plastic packaging. 

www.packplast.org 

Can Manufacturers Institute 

The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is the 

trade association of the metal and composite 

can manufacturing industry and its suppliers 

in the United States. CMI’s mission, simply 

stated, is to foster the prosperity of the industry 

and bring value to its members in a cost 

effective way. We do this by promoting the 

can and communicating its many benefits to 

our customers, consumers, the media, and 

trade analysts. www.cancentral.com 

Verband MetallVerpackungen E.V. 

The Registered Association of Metal 

Packaging is the German association for 

manufacturers of metal packaging as well 

as of closures for bottles and glass jars. 

The VMV supports ist members in all relevant 

entrepreneurial questions and represents 

common issues to the outside world. 

www.metallverpackungen.de 

Metal Packaging Manufacturers 

Association 

The Metal Packaging Manufacturers 

Association represents the interests of 

companies in the UK and Ireland involved in 

the production of light metal containers, closures 

and components. In particular, the Association 

represents members’ views to government and 

other regulatory bodies, both at home and in 

Europe, and develops industry standards. 

The Association is committed to supporting its 

members in identifying, measuring, controlling 

and minimising the environmental impact 

arising from the manufacture and use of 

metal packaging. It will seek to influence 

the formulation of plans and legislation by 

communicating a well researched and argued 

industry view. www.mpma.org.uk 

PIRA International 

Pira International is a leading commercial 

consultancy, testing and media business 

which specialises in retail supply chain 

technologies related to industries such 

as packaging, paper, plastics, printing, 

publishing and consumer goods. Pira has 

established a reputation as one of the key 

knowledge providers in these industry 

sectors. www.pira.co.uk 

ENVIRONMENT, RAW MATERIALS 

European Plastics Converters 

EuPC is the professional representative body 

of plastics converters within Europe whose 

activity embraces all sectors of the plastics 

converting industry including recycling. 

Founded in 1989, the Association focuses its 

activities on market development as well as 

on the issues management and the common 

problems affecting plastics converters such 

as Health, Safety and Environment, Raw 

Materials, Trade or Communication. 

www.eupc.org 

PACKFORSK 

STFI-Packforsk AB is one of the world’s 

leading R&D companies in the fields of pulp, 

paper, graphic media, packaging and logistics. 

The activities range from basic research to 

direct commission, where our expert skills 

and know-how are utilised to find solutions 

for customers to apply in their operations. 

All research is focused on customer value. 

www.stfi-packforsk.se

ENVIRONMENT 

Recycling 

Along with running our own awareness raising recycling programs and working 

with local governments to implement recycling systems in the countries we operate, 

Rexam belongs to and supports multiple recycling organisations and institutes. 

Here are details of some of the organisations which Rexam is an active member of: 

The European Organisation for 

Packaging and the Environment 

An industry and trade organisation, open to 

any company with an economic interest in 

packaging and packaged products. It presents 

the opinion of its members on issues related 

to packaging and the environment. 

www.europen.be 

National Consortium for Alumnium 

Packaging Recycling and Recovery 

CiAL is a non-profit organisation, which began 

in 1997. CiAL represents aluminium producers 

and manufacturers of aluminium packaging, 

in the search of solutions to reduce the use of 

raw materials and to promote the recycling 

of these products in and effort to protect the 

environment. www.cial.it 



Associations 

Returpack 

Returpack is responsible for the administration 

and deposit system for aluminium cans and 

PET bottles. Returpack is also responsible for 

co-ordinating the recovery and deposit system 

at every stage. Returpack is divided into two 

limited companies with their own separate 

finances, each responsible for one type of 

drinks container (aluminium cans and one-way 

PET bottles). The two companies collaborate 

on practical work, which benefits the operation 

both financially and in terms of co-ordination. 

The companies are owned by the packaging 

industry Rexam, trade organisations and the 

Swedish Brewers Association. 

www.returpack.se 

Brazilian Association for the 

Manufacture of recyclable cans 

RECYCLING 

The Brazilian Association of Manufacturers of 

highly recyclable Cans - has as one of its goals 

--- to promote the development of manufacturers 

and suppliers for metal packaging in Brazil, 

as well as the preservation of the environment. 

It also publishes studies, research and surveys 

about the aluminium packaging sector and 

advantages of aluminium cans (practical, 

modern and environment friendly). 

www.abralatas/org

Working Party on Packaging and the 

Environment 

An association of leading companies that 

manufacture, use and recycle packaging. The 

AGVU represents the common interests of its 

members from the retail trade, the consumer 

goods industry, the packaging industry 

and the recycling industry in the areas of 

environmental protection and the closed 

loop economy. www.agvu.de 

The Industry Council for Packaging and 

the Environment 

IINCPEN is a research organisation, which 

draws together an influential group of 

companies who share a vision of the future 

where all production, distribution, and 

consumption are sustainable. 

www.incpen.org 

The Association for the Sustainable Use 

and Recovery of Resources in Europe 

ASSURRE is a partnership for action, which 

aims to play an important role in transforming 

Sustainable Resource Management from a 

concept into a practical process and to work 

for a better EU legislative framework through 

better dialogue between all relevant actors 

and the EU institutions. www.assurre.org 

Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries 

ISRI represents more than 1,200 companies 

that process, broker, and consume scrap 

commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, 

glass, rubber, electronics, and textiles. The 

Institute provides education, advocacy, and 

compliance training, and promotes public 

awareness of the value and importance of 

recycling to the production of the world’s 

goods and services. www.isri.org 

ENVIRONMENT, RECYCLING 

PET Recycling in Europe 

Petcore, PET containers recycling Europe, is a 

non-profit European association fostering the 

use and development of PET containers and 

facilitating both PET recycling and the 

development of recycled end material. 

Petcore assists local authorities in establishing 

PET containers recycling programmes and 

maintains close relationships with European 

national associations dedicated to the recovery 

and recycling of PET containers. 

www.petcore.org

OUR PEOPLE 

Demonstrating fire safety 

in Europe 

Plastic Packaging 

The safety team at our site in Le Tréport, 

France, are regularly joined by local fire 

fighters for fire simulation exercises. 

In one exercise a smoking generator was 

placed in a corner and a volunteer operator 

played the part of a victim overcome by 

fumes. The alarm was then raised by the 

automatic fire detection system. The 

emergency team members, alerted by radio 

message, immediately came from the 

different workshops after putting on their 

safety gear. The victim was quickly found and 

brought to safety whilst the fire fighters dealt 

with the simulated fire. 

In only a few minutes the emergency 

procedure had been put into action with 

employees calmly assembling at the 

appropriate place. 

After a debriefing and a factory visit by the 

fire fighters to acquaint them with the 

surroundings and the risk areas, the factory 

returned to normal. 



Final tests and a simulation of the Business 

Continuity Planning phase also took place by 

contacting all key personnel at home to 

estimate their availability and approximate 

arrival time on site. 

Glass* 

The requirements to extinguish a severe fire 

or property damage incident in a glass site 

are very complex. The technical installations 

(such as the furnace and its hundreds of 

tonnes of hot glass, electricity, noise, heat, 

hard to access areas, equipment at heights or 

adjacent production machines) provide the 

potential to put Rexam employees and 

emergency staff at risk. 

As part of our fire safety and property 

protection programme, and to protect human 

health and safety as well as to improve the 

effectiveness and efficiency of an emergency 

operation, we carried out a number of 

practice scenarios at our glass plants in 

collaboration with local fire fighters and 

emergency service crews. 

The practice sessions were designed to 

improve the emergency services onsite 

knowledge and familiarity with plant and 

process hazards, as well as providing 

training for Rexam employees. Each 

individual session was planned jointly with 

the emergency services teams to be as real 

as possible. After completion, each session 

was then reviewed with the fire safety 

professionals for the purposes of identifying 

*Rexam’s Glass business was sold to Ardagh Glass Group PLC in June 2007 

new learning and knowledge sharing 

amongst other fire fighters and emergency 

crews dealing with factory conditions of this 

nature, some even to a national level. 

We see the health and safety of our 

employees, and any other persons who may 

be on our premises, as of utmost importance. 

By completing the above exercises and 

continuing to build on our close working 

relationship with local emergency crews we 

are further ensuring the maximum possible 

safety of our people. 

HEALTH & SAFETY

OUR PEOPLE 

Best practice examples in 

North America 

Rexam is deeply committed to safety. In 

2002, Rexam BCNA began participating in 

an annual global health and safety program 

conducted by Aon Risk Services. Following 

the initial audit, an action plan was created 

by our Health and Safety teams (working 

with individual sites), to address the audit 

recommendations for improving overall 

health and safety. 

Rexam set a target for all their locations to 

achieve a score of 80% or better on the audit 

and Rexam’s Director for BCNA H&S Geoff 

Wortley says the work is paying off. “All of 

our locations achieved at least an 80% score 

on the audit,” adding, “In fact, all of our 

locations are now eligible to receive the Rexam 

Risk Management Award for Health & Safety 

that will be announced a little later this year.” 

Several sites have even achieved double digit 

improvements since 2004 and four facilities 

reached the 90 plus percent level. 

“The performance of all of our sites is 

commendable”, said Harry Barto, BCNA’s 

president and CEO. “Improving our scores 

from 50% to more than 80% in just three or 

four years takes a tremendous amount of 

dedication and teamwork. But this is really 

just the beginning. I am also counting on our 

people and plants to deliver on our goal of 

reducing safety incidents every year until we 



Once again the team delivered, and was 

granted, ISO 14001 certification in Tianjin. 

Shanghai went one step further and decided 

to fully integrate their systems and were 

awarded both 14001 and 18001. Shenzhen 

will complete certification to ISO 14001 over 

the last few months of 2006. 

HEALTH & SAFETY 

Health & Safety 

achieve zero. We have the best people in 

this industry. And we want our people safe 

and secure.” 

China 

In mainland China, prior to our acquisition 

of the FangXin facility, Rexam had three 

manufacturing facilities - Tianjin, Shanghai 

and Shenzhen. All three large and very 

complex and each carrying out a range of 

manufacturing techniques. 

The Sector set a clear two-part strategy for 

these sites at the start of 2005; the first was 

that they should achieve the Rexam internal 

Best Practice award for health and safety. The 

last audits were 75, 63 and 70 respectively. 

Through hard work, teamwork and consistent 

leadership the plants were audited in early 

2006 with terrific results; 84, 87 and 86. 

Following this achievement, another first 

was attained in the Asia region – the Sector 

held the very first Asia Risk Management 

Conference in Shenzhen. Each of the plants’ 

EHS teams came together for a day to talk 

about the new programmes to be worked on, 

exchange best practice and of course to 

celebrate their achievements. 

The second strategic goal was that they would 

develop their systems of risk management 

along the lines of the international standards 

14001 and OHSAS 18001. 

All of these achievements are testament to 

the continuing emphasis throughout Rexam 

that a high-risk management standard helps 

to deliver high class business performance.

OUR PEOPLE 


Manisa show excellence 

in performance for risk management 

For the last five years an annual award has 

been presented to the Beverage Can Europe 

& Asia (BCE&A) site achieving excellence in 

performance for risk management. 

In our ongoing drive for continuous 

improvement in risk management 

performance, the scoring mechanism was 

revised in 2005 to include a series of both 

active and reactive key performance 

indicators across all three risk management 

disciplines. 

“The revised scoring mechanism was 

implemented to raise the bar in our pursuit of 

risk management excellence. Using a 

balanced scorecard approach, we can 

measure both the inputs and outputs of our 

risk management programme and recognise 

those high performing Plants accordingly” 

said Richard White, BCE&A’s Environment, 

Health & Safety Manager. 

Health & Safety performance 

Many sites scored highly, even in the revised 

scoring mechanism, but our Manisa plant in 

Turkey achieved the highest score in the 

range of KPIs showing particularly strong 

H&S performance. Plant Manager, Merih 

Ceyhan comments “In these times of rising 



commodity prices and global competition, 

some other companies become too focused 

on reducing costs. This can sometimes result 

in mixed priorities to the point where their 

employees health and safety is put at risk, all 

just for the sake of getting that competitive 

edge in production outputs”. 

“Rexam has always put the highest emphasis 

on the health and safety of employees and 

visitors. No level of competitive advantage 

will ever be more valuable to us than a 

human being’s health or life, and at Manisa 

we work on the principle that our first priority 

is to live and work in safe and healthy 

conditions. This is a belief and a message 

that has been communicated to, and is 

supported by, every level of our organisation 

and has become incorporated into our culture.” 

“The award has shown us that we are on the 

right track, and was received with a great 

deal of enthusiasm and pride by our team 

and all our employees, as recognition of their 

ongoing and commendable work in this 

area. We now display the award at the 

entrance to our plant as a daily reminder to 

all our employees and visitors that this is 

something that we must all continue to 

consider and improve, every day”. 

From left: Mr Christian Lange, VP Manufacturing, 

BCE&A, and Mr Merih Ceyhan, Plant Manager, 

Rexam Manisa holding the excellence award

OUR PEOPLE 

Crisis management at Rexam 

A full crisis management training excercise being held in the Rexam Aš plant in the Czech Republic 

Highlighting the 

importance of 

drills for managing 

critical events 



Rexam plants regularly practise effective local 

crisis management plans to ensure that if a 

problem does occur, everything is ready and 

our employees know what to do to ensure 

theirs and their colleague’s maximum 

possible safety. 

In the small town of Aš, in the Czech 

Republic, the quiet and calm was disrupted 

by the noise of police, ambulance and fire 

brigade sirens heading to our site as a part 

of a routine employee evacuation training 

The model situation – the leakage of a large 

amount of ammonia and consequent serious 


threat of an ammonia cloud on the community 

– was part of the sites crisis management 

plan and was completely prepared for. The 

integrated emergency system was tested, the 

community crisis team was involved and all 

members of the plant crisis management team 

were able to test their plans and reactions in 

a real crisis environment. Everyone involved 

responded positively with compliments and 

feedback, as a result several additional 

improvements have been made to the crisis 

management plan – highlighting the importance 

of drills for managing critical events.

OUR PEOPLE 

Rexam runners 

A team from Rexam’s headquarters in London 

(pictured below) joined nearly 13,000 other 

competitors in the JP Morgan Corporate 

Chase Challenge in London’s Battersea 

Park to raise money for Sports Aid, helping 

aspiring young sportsmen and women in 

the UK. 

Entry to the race was paid by Rexam to help 

support the Sports Aid fundraising efforts and 



to help encourage employees to take regular 

exercise. 

In additional to the above, 13 ladies from our 

Luton offices (pictured right) completed one of 

the national ‘Race for Life’ 5k runs to help raise 

£2,400 in funds for Cancer Research UK. 

Several other teams of Rexam ladies from all 

over the UK took part in the various ‘race for 

life’ runs including the Battersea Park, London 

and Willen Lake venues. 

Our Evansville, USA location also entered 

their own team in the ‘Race for the cure’ 

breast cancer event local to the plant. Other 

similar events were organised all over North 

America including the Washington event 

(pictured) and a total of nearly 8,500 

participants took part. 

EMPLOYEE WELFARE 

Encouraging regular exercise

OUR PEOPLE 

Building team spirit in 

La Selva 

What are the advantages of creating a working 

environment where people are directly 

involved in the way the business is run? 

At La Selva in Spain, the answer is clear – 

involvement and close teamwork has led to 

more innovation and significant improvements 

in the way they operate. Here, Manuel 

Ropero, Continuous Improvement Manager 



One of the most challenging things in the 

workplace is to create an environment where 

people feel motivated and involved. The 

advantages of doing so are enormous. The 

more people feel involved and counted, the 

more they are able to fulfil their own true 

potential. This in turn leads to better results 

and overall improved plant performance. 

at La Selva, comments on the importance of 

creating the right working environment. ”We are extremely 

proud of what our 

people bring to the 

organisation” 

Working environment 

At La Selva we are extremely proud of what 

our people bring to the organisation. We 

work hard to ensure that by providing the 

right working environment we are able to 

make the most of the knowledge and creativity 

each individual brings with them. We have 

found that a lot can be learnt from allowing 

people the chance to input into the way 

things are done. Teamwork is just one of the 

tools that provides the opportunity for this 

input and guarantees that we bring out the 

best in our people. 

In recent years this approach has allowed us 

to tackle some very difficult challenges. One 

very good example is the way we have 

increased our production year on year since 

1997, with a reduction in spoilage of more 

than 1.5% in 1998. We have also dramatically 

reduced our overall costs. This last point is 

extremely important when you consider the 

competitive and demanding environment in 

which we operate. 

EMPLOYEE WELFARE 

I am very proud of all of the teams that have 

contributed to our continuous improvement 

programme. They have supported us with their 

ingenuity, effort and creativity and I would 

like to take this opportunity to thank them all 

for making it possible. I am confident that by 

continuing to work closely together we can 

find new areas for improvement and continue 

the good work we have already started.

OUR PEOPLE 

Diversity & Inclusion at Rexam 

The leading global companies of the 21st 

century will be those that create a constant 

stream of innovative goods and services, 

earning customer loyalty through exceptional 

performance. 

In today’s highly complex and global market 

place, no single person, or single group of 

people, has the 

complete range of 

skills or talents 

needed to deliver 

this long-term 

success. This is 

why for many of 

the world’s leading 

companies, 

employee diversity is rapidly becoming a 

key competitive driver. 

Here, we interview Dirk Vermeire (pictured), 

VP Human Resources for Rexam’s Beverage 

Can Europe and Asia (BCEA) Sector about 

diversity and its growing importance within 

the Rexam Group. 

Firstly Dirk, how would you describe 

Diversity? 

Diversity is all about the ways in which we 

are different. It includes things we can see 

such as age, gender, ethnicity, physical 

appearance, and things that we can’t see 

such as thought styles, religion, nationality, 

and education. I like to quote P.H.Rasmussen, 

who I feel gives a really complete picture of 

what diversity is. He describes diversity as, 

“The mosaic of people who bring a variety of 



cultural, social and historical backgrounds, 

styles, perspectives, values and beliefs as 

assets to the groups and organisations with 

which they interact”. 

Why is Diversity so important? 

One of the most obvious advantages is that 

a company with a more diverse workforce 

is more likely to reflect the marketplace it 

supplies to. Rexam is a great example as 

we are operating in an increasingly diverse 

marketplace. Our packaging is bought by 

consumers from a variety of different 

nationalities, cultures, religions, backgrounds 

and lifestyles. If we are to be successful in the 

longer term, it is critical that we mirror this 

diversity internally so that we have a more in- 

depth understanding of the needs and tastes 

of these different consumer groups. This will 

allow us to be one step ahead when it comes 

to product, service and market innovation. 

In my view, diversity also helps to deliver a 

more creative and innovative organisation. 

If we bring together a wide variety of people 

with different views, ideas and perspectives, 

we will have the potential to deliver far greater 

creativity than if we simply brought together 

a group of very like minded people. Indeed, 

I truly believe that a diverse organisation will 

out-think, out-innovate and out-perform a non- 

diverse organisation every time. 

Diverse organisations also tend to attract the 

best people. The fact is, the average age of 

workers is rising. The number of women 

entering the workforce continues to grow. 

Employees are becoming more mobile with 

changing needs and expectations. Continued 

success depends on our ability to attract and 

fully utilise this diverse pool of talent. If we 

limit our recruitment to only one ‘type’ of 

person, we will certainly be missing out on 

many highly talented people who would 

bring fresh ideas into the business. 

What do we mean by inclusion? 

Inclusion means creating a workplace in 

which diversity is valued. It is not enough 

simply to recruit and employ a diverse 

workforce, we also need to make sure that 

everyone in the business feels included in 

the organisation, that their differences are 

respected and encouraged, and of course 

that they are treated fairly. 

What can be done to support diversity 

and what steps has Rexam made? 

Firstly, there needs to be a greater 

understanding of the benefits of diversity at 

all levels of the company. Secondly, I believe 

as individuals we need to be more open to 

working with people who are different than 

ourselves. And finally there need to be clear 

actions in place to ensure that we stick to our 

goal of becoming a more diverse and inclusive 

workplace. At Rexam, we are still at the early 

stages of developing these action plans. We 

are currently undertaking an audit to check 

how we are performing with regards to 

diversity and inclusion. From this, we will be 

able to more easily understand what needs to 

be done to improve. 

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

There was a time when IBM focused on making 

everyone and everything fit in. The goal was to hire 

people who conformed to and reinforced its culture, 

people who would perpetuate that culture. It was 

a successful company that controlled about 80% 

of its market, so “more of the same” was an 

understandable and logical approach. They had 

rexam world 

making 

most 

the 

of diversity and inclusion 

Dr Caren Siehl, Associate Professor of Management at Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management 

| 1 | 

a well-integrated organisation and a great business 

model. Life was good and, in the words of one 

senior VP, they were “playing great chess”, evoking 

the image of a methodical, committed and focused 

organisation that was in control. What’s more, IBM 

could train people to become better chess players.

But, almost overnight, a man named Bill 

Gates appeared on the scene and changed 

the game to poker, dealing cards faster 

than anyone at IBM ever believed possible. 

And what did IBM do? Logically, one 

would have thought: “learn to play 

poker”. But the first thing they did was to 

play “better chess”, and they stuck with 

the game plan for quite a while. They did 

so because the company knew no other 

way. It had become increasingly better at 

things that people no longer really cared 

about. The organisation was too insular 

rexam world 

What diversity is 

What do we really mean by diversity in 

terms of the broader diversity and 

inclusion umbrella? The two most obvious 

associations are cultural diversity and 

demographic diversity. These are critical 

aspects of diversity. But diversity goes 

beyond the concept of people who look 

different to us; it is equally important to 

think about it in terms of experience 

bases and backgrounds, and diversity 

of thought – the idea of bringing people 

into your business who will question and 

challenge what you are doing. 

Cisco Systems says that it likes to hire ‘wild ducks’. They hire people who challenge the way that they think. 

It has been critical to its success. 

and too focused on the way that it had 

always done things and on business 

models that had always worked. Quite 

simply, it was not diverse enough. 

This early IBM story really captures why 

diversity matters, and IBM is now very 

dedicated to increasing diversity and 

inclusion. If you do not have enough 

diversity within, you run the risk of someone 

from the outside unseating you in some 

way. Without that diversity, you do not 

have the flexibility to shift, innovate or 

adapt either when you want to or need to. 

The first two are a test in themselves but 

they are not enough. Diversity has to be 

a deeply felt understanding about the 

need to broaden the base in terms of 

experience as well as thought. 

How you include 

Inclusion is wanting to include people who 

are in some way different. But how do you 

include? One obvious way is through 

selection – taking on people who are 

different. Cisco Systems says that it likes 

to hire ‘wild ducks’, a process which they 

build into their selection process, so that 

they hire people who challenge the way that 

they think. It has been critical to its success. 

Reward, recognition and promotion 

are equally critical. Once you bring 

people in, you have to give them the 

opportunities to succeed and to be 

recognised for the success that they 

have been able to display. 

Then there’s the positive effect of a diverse 

internal and external network. It’s part of 

human nature to spend a lot of time with 

people who are “just like us”. Part of what 

diversity leads you to, if you are really 

including people, is to broaden your 

internal and external network and to build 

and support the context for inclusion, which 

is where culture comes into play. 

What are the business advantages? 

First and foremost, competitive advantage. 

Diversity and inclusion have the potential 

to create new opportunities and are critical 

in the context of global operations. The 

more a company extends across the 

globe, the more this issue becomes salient 

and important. From a competitive 

viewpoint, you can maybe get away with 

a lack of diversity and inclusion, as long 

as you are playing in domestic markets, 

with domestic customers, where you can 

corral everything nicely. But if you are to 

drive competitive advantage globally and 

towards growth, diversity and inclusion 

logically fall into line. 

Asking better questions 

If a company really wants to foster creativity 

and innovation, and to avoid the feeling 

of ‘group think’, they need people to ask 

better questions. If everyone has the same 

mindset, you will get the same questions 

and answers, which is not conducive to 

innovation. 

GE is a good example of a company that 

is leveraging this concept. GE is highly 

focused on innovation and has built diversity

in terms of the hiring and promoting of 

diverse individuals. It still has a lot of hardcore, 

manufacturing businesses, yet it has 

stated publicly, and reinforced this with 

measures and rewards, that unless the 

company has a more diverse set of thinkers 

and experiences, it will be unable to drive 

the level of innovation that is fundamental 

to its future success. 

What’s stopping everyone 

embracing it? 

Usually, superiority, arrogance and 

intolerance; the feeling of my world is best 

– it’s the way to do it. Lack of diversity and 

inclusion promotes a feeling of superiority, 

which leads to a level of arrogance and a 

lack of tolerance. Similarly, there’s the 

hurdle of past success reinforcing current 

assumptions. Success is good news, but 

when it comes to diversity and inclusion, 

it can be less good, since the more 

successful you are, the more you tend to 

support the way that you have always 

done things – exactly the trap that IBM 

and others fell into. Neither of the above 

provides the best business environment 

in terms of new idea generation, seeing 

advantages in new markets, etc. It is a 

challenge that you have to address if a 

company wants to truly embrace diversity 

and inclusion. 

What are leaders’ responsibilities 

and actions? 

Everyone needs to push hard at testing 

assumptions. It requires time, effort 

and patience, and may require a shift 

in leadership style. For example, more of 

listening and less of talking. 

To embrace diversity and inclusion, leaders 

need to be committed cognitively and 

emotionally, in the sense that they really 

believe that it matters at a very deep level. 

There is a need for consistency around 

what they say and do and the matter of 

personal connection; people who ‘get’ 

diversity and inclusion are passionate 

rexam world 

about it. They are willing to act as a role 

model for it. 

There is also the issue of personal integrity 

that really forces one to examine one’s 

own values at a personal level, in terms 

of what really matters, what organisation 

you are trying to build, and what legacy 

you want to leave. When you move on to 

your next job, what is the story that you 

want people to tell? You need to think 

about what you are saying in terms of 

communication. You need dedicated 

resources and tools for measuring and 

rewarding and you need to celebrate 

small wins, since this does not happen 

overnight. If you are going to be known 

as a company that ‘gets’ diversity and 

inclusion, the process takes time, and you 

will have setbacks and wins. Therefore, 

you need to celebrate some of the good 

things that happen and use them as 

building blocks to move forward. 

You need to learn from experience. People 

will make mistakes, so one of the real 

challenges is to not allow the mistakes to 

overwhelm the effort. If you allow the 

errors to tell you ‘I told you so’, you will 

never get anywhere; you need to 

approach this as an experience, with an 

intent to move three steps forward and two 

steps backward. 

In conclusion, like any other major 

undertaking, the starting point is belief – 

believing that diversity and inclusion can 

help drive competitive advantage. There 

needs to be an appropriate balance 

between flexibility and consistency. You 

need consistency to pool the common 

objectives and the sense of ‘we’re all in 

this together’. However, for your business, 

you will have to decide where diversity 

will have the most impact and truly help to 

drive competitive advantage. 

Today it is not enough to simply play 

better chess. 

What is Rexam 

doing about 

diversity and 

inclusion? 

Peter Moxom, Group Director Human 

Resources: “To help raise focus and develop 

a viable diversity and inclusion (D&I) 

programme, we have created a special 

task force which includes representatives 

from each of our business sectors, as well 

as an external specialist, to create a 

business strategy for the Group. 

To launch the programme we held a number 

of workshops with our senior management 

to highlight the business case for D&I and 

to kick off activity in our sectors. Each of 

our business sectors are now holding their 

own workshops and developing appropriate 

plans down to a country level where needed. 

We have also launched an e-survey of all 

our managers (1,500-2,000 people) to 

highlight any weaknesses and identify any 

target areas where we need to focus our 

attentions. Championed by our Chief 

Executive, its aim is to effectively ‘draw 

a line in the sand’ by understanding the 

opinions of our people; determining where 

we are today and assessing what we can 

do in the future. 

D&I is not something that can be managed 

by simply mandating a process: it is about 

looking at every level of our organisation 

across all our businesses around the world 

and setting a common goal of behaviour to 

encourage our employees to act ethically, 

fairly and with an open mind to all those 

they come into contact with. We recognise 

the need to raise the focus within our Group 

and motivate our managers to act positively 

to ensure that our aims are achieved…but 

they will not be achieved overnight.”

OUR PEOPLE 

Business school at 

Rexam Beverage Can Europe 

Rexam BCE employees can learn, together 

with colleagues, at Rexam’s Business School 

to help them enhance team productivity and 

be challenged, developed and satisfied in 

their roles. 

Developing and 

motivating our 

employees for 

the future 



The school provides practical workshops on 

core business areas and skills such as business 

awareness, finance, communication and 

people management. These courses last 

between one and two days and are held in 

various locations across Europe. A critical 

part of these courses shows how learning can 

be transferred back to the workplace, and be 

linked to the business needs of the organisation. 

Each course is delivered by internationally 

experienced specialised trainers and 

customised to each group. 

Technical School 

In addition to the business school, Rexam 

BCE also has its own Technical School that 

focuses on manufacturing. The school uses 

internal experts to train operatives on key 

process steps: the cupper, bodymaker, 

washer, inside spray and necker. Participants 

are taken to the specialist Technical Group 

facilities in Tongwell, UK, to learn about the 

machines. These ‘hands-on’ courses look at 

how the machines are put together and how 

they work, as well as how to identify and 

resolve faults. 

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT 

”It is critical for our 

business to invest in our 

employees in order 

to drive business 

performance. We 

actively encourage 

employees and 

managers alike to attend 

appropriate courses” 

Dirk Vermeire, VP, Human Resources, 

Rexam BCE

OUR PEOPLE 

Training Adds 

Value! 

Rexam invited training expert and news 

editor for the ‘Personnel Today’ magazine, 

Daniel Thomas, to share his thoughts about 

training in the workplace. 

For many people, ‘training’ means sitting in 

a stuffy classroom being talked at, while the 

important matter of your real job is forgotten. 

But in reality, training and development is a 

vital part of business today – both for the 

employee and the employer. 

Most people would agree that a knowledgeable, 

appreciated, motivated work force can give 

a company a competitive edge. Although 

training requires dedicated time and resources; 

it positively affects companies and the 

employees who work for them. 

”Training and 

Development is 

a vital part of 

business today” 

For workers, gaining more skills means they 

can do their jobs better and to take on new 

responsibilities, which can lead to promotion 

and pay rises. And for employers, allowing 

staff to improve has real financial benefits. 

International analysis of the manufacturing 



sector shows that companies that spend 

heavily on staff training enjoy 47% better 

productivity than those that spend little. 

Trends 

Traditional training options such as “on-the- 

job training” and formal education courses 

are by far the most frequently used methods. 

The widespread use of on-the-job learning – 

where an employee is taught skills whilst 

carrying out their everyday role – reflects the 

fact that it is considered the most effective 

way for employees to learn. However, many 

employers also believe training delivered by 

an instructor away from the main company 

site is a very effective way of improving skills. 

The growth of technology means that a lot 

of training is now delivered via the internet, 

something which is known as “e-learning”. 

The key benefit of e-learning is that it is 

available all the time and can be used 

continuously. But companies need to be 

aware that unless e-learning is closely linked 

to the needs of the organisation it will fail. 

People using technology for training also need 

support to ensure courses are successful. 

How training has moved on 

Twenty years ago, training was not seen as 

key part of company success, with trainers 

concentrating on what they could deliver, 

rather than what the learner might need. 

However, over the past 20 years, the nature 

of business and the way training is delivered 

has changed. 


As employers have begun to realise that staff 

with more skills can improve their success 

rates, the focus from employers has changed 

from ‘training’ to ‘learning’. Instead of 

courses based in classrooms, employers are 

now offering a range of schemes that 

support, speed up and improve individual and 

team learning. Staff are also expected to take 

more responsibility for their own learning. 

DANIEL THOMAS, 

NEWS EDITOR, 

PERSONNEL TODAY

OUR PEOIPLE 

Developing high calibre 

candidates in South America 

Recruiting and retaining young, high calibre, 

candidate’s helps a company to stay innovative 

and brings fresh perspective and approach to 

business processes. Investing in the development 

and further training of these candidates helps 

our employees feel recognised, valued and 

motivated as well as increasing the sense of 

loyalty to managers and the company. 

Rexam Trainee program 

In our South American Beverage Can (BCSA) 

business we have launched a specially 

designed ‘Rexam Trainee program’ targeted 

at recruiting high calibre graduates (within 

two years of graduation) for inclusion in a 

graduate development scheme. The scheme 

offers them mentoring, career planning, 

exposure and experience in multiple business 

functions and specialist projects for specified 

areas of the business. 

After selection, candidates go through a series 

of induction and orientation programmes 

including: 

• Induction Workshop - Introduction to the 

Rexam group, Rexam BCSA, functional 

managers and strategies, overview of 

production processes, explanation of The 

Rexam Way and team building exercises. 



• Business overview course – Covering the 

basic principles of the core functions and 

skills within a business including; Marketing, 

Finance, Macro environment, Organisation, 

Negotiation, Process management, Strategy 

development, logistics and International 

business. 

• ‘A conversation with the President’ – An 

interactive lecture on varying themes in 

relation to the business strategy. 

• Rexam forum – Presentations by business 

leaders from Rexam BCSA giving a 

practical angle on business processes. 

• Career Orientation Programme (POC) – 

Externally hosted workshops to plan and 

develop specific behaviours and abilities 

relevant to candidates. 

• HR meetings – Individual and group 

discussions held with corporate and local 

HR functions to discuss issues, provide 

support and advice and give feedback on 

the programme and processes involved. 

• Six Sigma Green Belt Training – Training 

and activities for each candidate to receive 

‘Green Belt’ certification and resulting 

participation in/leading Six Sigma 

business projects 

The candidates are given specific projects to 

complete and allocated functional areas and 

teams to work with. To support them throughout 

the whole process candidates have allocated 

mentors and tutors and are given open 

access to any additional support and advice 

required from local and corporate HR 

functions and managers. 

The BCSA graduate training program has 

been designed and implemented with a view 

to help develop select talented young 

professionals to bring continuous improvement 

and increased strategic competency to Rexam, 

while building each individual candidate a 

sustainable path of career development for 

the future. 

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

OUR PEOPLE 

Rexam way impact program 

Three years after its launch, The Rexam Way 

still plays a big part in everything we do, but 

how does it help improve our performance 

and create a single culture? 

Nick Richardson, 

Program Director for the 

Rexam Way Impact 

Program, reminds us 

how creating a single 

culture adds value to the 

Rexam Way and the 

whole company. 

“As we have been rolling out the Impact 

Program throughout the business, I have been 

consistently asked three questions; Why is the 

Rexam vision important? What is the purpose 

of the Rexam Way? and, How are they going 

to contribute to improving our performance? 

These are important questions which need 

answers if Rexam is to continue to grow. To 

start with, we need to look at our vision… ” 

”To be the leading 

consumer 

packaging group.” 

Our Vision – Why is it important? 

Our vision is a clear signpost to the future and 

provides a valuable focus to all our stakeholders 

- customers, employees, investors and 

even suppliers. Once we know where we are 

going as a business, we can define relevant 

strategies to take us on this road. This alignment 



across all areas of Rexam significantly 

improves our chances of success. 

Our vision provides a signpost of where 

Rexam intends to be in the future. It explains 

the business we are in and provides a shared 

sense of purpose and focus for all of our efforts. 

It is the forward thinking image that we must 

have of our goals. 

What is The Rexam Way? 

The Rexam Way is a combination of strategic 

business initiatives, built on our core values, 

that guide us, express our beliefs and reflect 

our hopes for the kind of company we want 

to create. They are shared beliefs that will 

take us towards our Vision. The Rexam Way 

therefore connects our vision to our values 

and is comprised of seven core elements; 

Vision – the overall statement of what Rexam 

is seeking to become, this explains what we 

want to be. 

Mission – the overall direction that way we 

have decided we need to reach the vision. 

Strategic Measures – how Rexam’s performance 

will be evaluated by employees, suppliers, 

customers, shareholders and analysts etc. 

Which is vital in attracting investment into our 

business. 

Tactical Measures – these are indicators that 

will tell us if we are on the right road. These 

are things we can probably see and assess 

ourselves against each day. 

Tactical Objectives – The goals and objectives 

that we encounter each day, these are things 


Creating one culture 

– The Rexam Way

that we are normally directly involved in, they 

make up the focus of our day. Success here 

will directly affect the measures above. 

Strategic Goals – the desired outcomes of 

implementing all aspects of the Rexam Way – 

these are the areas we will have heard of, for 

example Lean Enterprise, that are in every 

aspect of our business. These goals are where 

Rexam wants to demonstrate a distinction 

over its competitors. 

Core Values – these under-pin everything – 

Continuous Improvement, Trust, Teamwork & 

Recognition are the behaviours that Rexam 

believes are fundamental to achieving our 

overall business goals in order to sustain 

competitive advantage. They set standards 

of behaviour that set us apart from the 

competition. 

From vision to values 

Our Vision, Mission, and Values are three 

important pieces of the Rexam Way. 

• With vision, we have a clear direction. 

• With our mission, we have a purpose. 

• With our values, we have our standards 

of behaviour. 

If our vision, mission and values were not 

clear, it would be easy to lose focus, get off 

track, and pursue the wrong goals. 

To be effective, and to continually improve 

performance, we all need to understand and 

OUR PEOPLE, EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT 

“If you don’t know where 

you are going, it doesn’t matter 

which road you take.” 

Anon. 

support the organisation’s core beliefs. On a 

daily basis we must ask questions of ourselves 

such as: 

• Is my action in line with our vision? 

• Does this align with our mission? 

• Does my behaviour adhere to our values? 

The core values and the behaviour associated 

with them should bind Rexam together across 

the whole organisation. This is why The Rexam 

Way Impact Program has been created, 

along with our Lean Enterprise, quality 

management and communication programs. 

To assist in raising performance by getting 

the best from an empowered team. 

It helps us better understand our behaviours 

and how they impact on the people around 

us. The Rexam Way will only become a part 

of the way we do business if we make a 

serious commitment to change. A major part 

of the Impact Program helps us see through 

the implications of what is learnt during the 

program and apply it to specific site based 

situations. It presents us with a unique 

opportunity to review the way we do business. 

Thereby developing and enhancing The 

Rexam Way within our business. It is easy, of 

course, to talk in theory, about our vision and 

values and The Rexam Way, but how is it 

actually making a difference, day to day, to 

Rexam. On the next page, we investigate a 

clear example of how Impact is making a 

real difference and improving performance, 

and we find out that, at the end of the day, it 

is all about: 

• Developing people 

• Raising Team Performance 

• Achieving results.

COMMUNITY 

Children in the community 

Road safety in Limmared, Sweden* 

As part of our day to day operations there is 

a certain amount of commercial traffic that is 

required to keep things running. This includes 

heavy goods vehicles supplying raw materials 

to us, or delivering finished products to our 

customers, or dropping off the many tons of 

recycled materials we use in our processes. 

In an effort to promote road safety, to help 



protect children and make them more visible 

to general and commercial traffic, Rexam 

provide special ‘reflective glow vests’ to all 

the children in the local area. This can help 

them be more visible to drivers as well as 

serve as a reminder to the children to be 

aware of traffic and potential road dangers, 

especially in rural areas. 

*Rexam’s Glass business was sold to Ardagh Glass Group PLC in June 2007 

Russian orphanage update 

Rexam Naro-Fominsk has been continuing 

with its support for the local Nadezhda 

orphanage rehabilitation centre by giving a 

helping hand to renovate and modernise the 

orphanage. 

Eric Höggårdh, General Manager of our 

Naro Forminsk plant, visited the orphanage 

to see how the renovation works were 

progressing, and to deliver gifts to the 

children, who were delighted to play with 

their new toys. 

While at the orphanage Erik spoke to some 

of the orphans and the caring management 

team and also pledged Rexam’s continuing 

support to the children and the centre.

COMMUNITY 

Volunteer work 

across Rexam 

Improving the landscape 

More than 20 Rexam BCNA headquarters 

employees spent time painting and 

landscaping, beginning what will be a yearly 

community involvement effort involving 

Rexam BCNA headquarter locations. 

Ron Lottman, vice president, finance, Rexam 

BCNA, is shown improving the grounds of 

Lamb’s Farm, an assisted living facility 

outside Chicago. 

Further assistance 

These are just two examples of some of the 

work we do, and are dedicated to continue 

doing, to support the communities in which 

we are located. For more details, please 

check the other case studies in this community 

section and our ‘Emerging markets’ section. 

If you have a request for Rexam charitable 

employee or donation support near one of 

our facilities, please contact us directly using 

the contact details in our ‘Additional 

Information’ page of the ‘Responsibility’ 

section of this website. 



Bringing a little cheer to the elderly on 

Mothers day 

Mother’s Day is celebrated in many ways on 

many different days around the world, but for 

those elderly citizens who have been left 

without a family it can be a difficult day. 

Volunteers from our Turkish facility in Manisa 

gave up their time to visit a local ‘Elderly 

Home’ to spend time with the residents and 

bring a little fun and cheer to the day. 

See images of the day below and right. 

Rexam Manisa employees enjoying a dance and some local songs with the residents

COMMUNITY 

The Good Day Program gives every Rexam 

BCSA employee a chance to improve their 

business performance while improving the life 

of the many needy people in their 

communities. 

How it works: 

Each site have aims and actions to help them 

deliver their business results. They select the 

goals and objectives (targets) they work 

towards and then once achieved, the targets 

are gradually increased in order to facilitate 

continuous improvement and better results. 

As a form of motivation for achieving the 

targets, the ‘Good Day Program’ was 

developed to rewards sites who meet and 

exceed their targets by allocating a sum of 

money to be donated to local communities 

and charities. 

The employees who have worked on the 

projects that achieved the results are the ones 

who select the charity they wish to donate to, 

and also get to deliver the funds or aide 

directly to the people in need 

Pedro Henrique Toledo, plant manager at 

our Recife End Plant says that, “by being able 

to look into the eyes of these people as you 

personally give them much needed food and 

aide, you couldn’t have a better reward. 

There can be no better incentive”. 



Rexam South America 

The ’Good Day’ 

program 

Our Recife end plant, who have achieved 20 

‘good days’ since the start of the program in 

2004 is a great example of how this program 

helps to improve our process in order to be a 

world class supplier while helping people in 

need 

Rexam Recife, Brazil 

Members of the Recife plant seen here donating food and supplies to a busy under-funded 

local nursery school Lar do Amanhã Foudation. Further examples see next page.

Rexam Recife, Brazil 

COMMUNITY, GOOD DAY PROGRAM 

The Recife team pictured at the Abrigo de Idosos São Francisco old peoples home to present their donation and meet with the residents 

“The Good Day is an opportunity for all 

employees to help people, using their wish to 

do better every day. This is a great motivational 

program, because they choose who will 

Children at the Lar Casagrande de 

Rexam Brasilia, Brazil 

receive the donation, and the members of 

their crew, that achieve the Good Day, with 

RH, deliver the donation check.” 

Leonardo Butolo, Plant Manager – Brasília 

Rexam Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Longchamps orphanage pictured on the 

Left: The Brazilia team with 

the recipients of another of 

their donations at Casa do 

Idoso Amor a Vida a local 

home that takes care of the 

elderly 

day of receiving their donation from our 

Buenos Aires plant in Argentina 

Memers of the Brazilia plant delivering their 

donation to Casa João de Barro a local 

orphanage

COMMUNITY 

Donations 

in the Americas 

‘Adopt a family’ in North America 

As another example of Rexam’s community 

efforts we have details of some of the activities 

being held in our Evansville, Princeton and 

Madisonville plants. Firstly is the local 

initiative known as ‘Adopt a family’ which the 

plants have 

been taking 

part in for the 

past two years 

in the lead up 

to Christmas. 

The programme starts by contacting the local 

County division of Family Services or the 

local Salvation Army, who select a family for 

each site to ‘adopt’. Rexam is then provided 

with a list of the types of items each family 

needs, along with the sizes required. We then 

place ‘collection containers’ for employees to 

donate what they can including clothes, toys 

and specialist items. All the donations are then 

collected by the local services and distributed to 

the selected needy family in time for Christmas. 

Rexam’s only request is that the families to 

which they donate (which remain anonymous 

throughout the programme) include children. 

A similar scheme is also run for the collection 

of food parcels. Containers are placed on 

site for donations and then collected and 

taken to local shelters for the poor. 

Donations program in Brazil 

Rexam employees are uniting in their 

constant concern and efforts for a fairer 



world. The ‘Programa Doação’ (Donation 

Program), is based on an incentive for 

development of humanitarianism and solidarity. 

The key element of the program is the 

employee. All employees are invited to 

donate time, attention, personal items and / 

or products to any institution that they 

themselves elect. The only requirement is that 

the institution or charity’s work supports the 

communities in the neighbourhood of the 

Company’s facilities. 

Cláudia Klein, HR Manager of our South 

American Sector explains, “the programme 

came about as a result of the closure of a 

similar, and very well accepted program that 

had existed for some years in Brazil, known 

as “Natal sem Fome” (Christmas without 

Hunger). 

Rexam participates in the initiative by providing 

sponsorship in the form of supplying delivery 

of the donations and creating advertising, 

awareness, support and incentives for 

employees to carry out charitable actions. 

Antonio Carlos de Almeida, Maintenance 

Technician in the Brasília Unit comments: “we 

already had a donating group, and we were 

thrilled with ‘Programa Doação’. With the 

new program, more people are being 

mobilized in a continuous search to create a 

stronger loving world.” 

“The ‘Programa Doação’ is a compliment to 

Rexam’s corporate responsibility policy and 

has an extensive performance worldwide. 

We want to embrace, not ignore, the 

problems experienced by people in our world 

and do our part, in macro and also micro- 

social issues to help. Volunteering is a rich 

mechanism to help our neighbours and also 

promotes the possibility for self-recognition 

and a sense of well deserved personal 

achievement to all those who give their 

donations, time and much energy to help 

others”, concludes Cláudia Klein. 

Warm Clothing Campaign in South America 

Rexam’s South American businesses 

participated in a campaign for the collection 

of warm clothing to the poor and needy. As 

is common in many of the collection 

campaigns we participate in, Rexam 

dedicated specified areas of its sites for 

collecting, sorting and storing the donations 

ready for distribution. 

Altogether, our businesses collected 1,234 

items, including blankets and various types of 

warm clothing, which have been now been 

donated to eight charities located in the 

communities near our units.

COMMUNITY 

Supporting 

sick and terminally ill children 

Rexam Manisa supports local hospital 

Rexam Manisa raised a fantastic 10,000 

euro’s, through donations by employees and 

the company, to help a local hospital build a 

special unit for children with cancer. 

Rexam also organised an event for the 

children where they played and sang nursery 

rhymes whilst being entertained by colourful 

clowns. 

Hilal Kocaman, HR Manager and member of 

‘The Rexam Club’ (a charity committee) in 

Manisa, attended the event. “Being with the 

children was great fun and I think everyone 



was touched by their strength and courage in 

their fight against cancer. To see them smiling 

and laughing during the event was so 

rewarding and the psychologists at the 

hospital thanked us all for our efforts and for 

organising the day, which helped the children 

take their minds off the illness. I would like to 

take this opportunity to thank all the Manisa 

employees for their kindness.” 

Rexam South America support 

McHappy day 

The McHappy Day is an initiative run by the 

McDonalds food chain to help raise money to 

fight cancer in infants and young people. In 

Brazil, this initiative is widely known and 

supported throughout the country. 

For a whole day, all income received from 

the sale of the ‘Big Mac’ sandwiches is given 

to the participating charities and institutes 

who care for children and young people with 

cancer. 

Since 1989, the McHappy Day programme 

has raised more than $27.5 USD million to 

help support more than 100 organizations 

and has become the one of the country’s 

largest fundraisers and awareness generators 

for paediatric cancer. 

The Happy McDay is held in more than 500 

restaurants throughout Brazil. The money raised 

is donated to around 60 selected charitable 

institutions in over 20 different states of Brazil. 

Rexam is supporting this action through 

awareness schemes and the sale of over 150 

Big Mac tickets to its employees. 

Donating equipment to raise funds 

There are numerous other activities completed 

by Rexam and its employees to support children, 

including our participation in ‘Kirsty’s Appeal’ 

on behalf of Francis House. 

Francis House cares for terminally ill children 

and provides support for their families. They 

receive no government funding so rely entirely 

on public donations. 

The appeal involves collecting and sending 

employees old or redundant mobile phones 

to Francis House who then, in conjunction 

with ‘Planet mobile’, exchange them for cash 

donations. 

For more information and to read more about 

this amazing little girl, please visit their site: 

www.kirstysappeal.co.uk.

OUR SUPPLIERS 

Rexam’s Responsible 

Sourcing Programme Tools 

Although we have dedicated HR, H&S and 

environmental resources within the group 

to look at our own CSR activities, the 

responsibility for looking to our supplier’s 

activities lies mainly with our Supply Chain 

teams. In designing our programme we have 

had to be as considerate as possible of the 

workload these team members have in the 

existing roles and we’ve tried to design the 

tools and processes to ‘fit into’ existing 

processes rather than add to them, and for 

the tools to be as ‘self explanatory’ as possible. 

The two main tools we have created are the 

Rexam Responsible Sourcing Handbook and 

Risk Matrix. 

The Rexam Responsible Sourcing 

Handbook 

The handbook provides comprehensive 

guidance to all employees who deal with 

suppliers including introductory sections on 

‘What is CR?’ and ‘CR at Rexam’. The main 

focus, however, is in the third section where 

we explain our entire Responsible Sourcing 

Program and provide step by step instructions 

on how to complete each of the activities 

involved. The handbook also includes reference 

documents and contacts in case further 

support is required. 

The Rexam Responsible Sourcing 

Risk Matrix 

Sitting alongside the Rexam Responsible 

Sourcing Handbook, the Risk Matrix is the 

core reference point for our Responsible 

Sourcing activities. Originally designed as an 

information gathering document, the Matrix 



has now been developed into an online 

solution accessible globally by all employees. 

It has two search areas (Countries and Products) 

where employees simply search for the 

product they are procuring and the country 

in which the supplier is situated and results 

pages are returned. The results detail a list 

of any issues associated with the selected 

country/product. Each Country page contains 

the following information per ‘issue’: 

– Overview – What is the issue about 

(generally and specific to that country) 

– The standards required by Rexam 

(relevant to the issue) 

– How to evaluate if the supplier meets those 

standards 

– Actions to take if the standards are not met 

The product risks are produced in a simplified 

format of the above due to the nature of the 

issues generally being less complex. 

Having this document in place means all 

employees are able to easily access and 

understand the issues relevant to their suppliers 

and are able to tackle them in a relevant and 

constructive way. 

Other supporting tools 

• RFI and RFQ CR questionnaires 

• Supplier CR audit template and guidelines 

• Improvement planning templates and 

processes 

• GRI indicators for high impact assessment 

• Global Policy and cover letter (translated 

into relevant languages) 

All tools are explained in the handbook 

including instructions on how and when to 

use them and what to look for in supplier 

responses. 

Roll out 

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING TOOLS 

Creating these tools has been a large task, 

but it means our program is now ‘self informing’ 

for all those involved in procurement. It has 

also meant we were able to roll out to 

employees around the world without the need 

for extensive travel or time taken away from 

activities for training workshops. Also, 

because the tools are all available through 

an internally developed bespoke ‘web 

application’, all our employees can access 

the information and guidance in a consistent 

and user friendly format globally.

EMERGING MARKETS 

A new world order 

By Peter Day, BBC Business Correspondent 

To get an external view on economic growth 

across the world, Rexam invited Peter Day, 

a BBC Business correspondent to share his 

thoughts. 

Think of history: empires rise and fall, 

civilisations flourish and decay. It is happening 

again, now, in an extraordinary way. The 

global economic landscape is radically 

changing, and we had better get used to it. 

What’s happening was summed up clearly 

by the clever economists at the powerful 

investment bank Goldman Sachs some three 

year ago. 

They summed up the story of the coming 50 

years as the arrival of “BRICs” on the world 

scene. BRICs stands for Brazil, Russia, India 

and China. These four developing countries 

(say Goldman Sachs) are going to grow until 

their economies are bigger than anything in 

the rest of the world. By 2035, say. 

And then they will go on growing. The size 

of their economy per head of population will 

still even then be much smaller than Europe 

or the USA. By 2050, they will be up at the 

top table of the global economy, with the 

USA and Japan. 

An extraordinary momentum is building up. 

Nothing like the rise of China as a modern 

business power has ever happened in the 

world before. India is following fast, with 

a more youthful population not limited by 

China’s one child policy. 



Russia will benefit from its enormous oil and 

gas reserves as the rest of the world gets ever 

thirstier for energy. Russia, not just Moscow 

and St Petersburg, is booming, as I saw for 

myself on a journey across the whole width 

of Russia last autumn. 

Brazil too has vast natural resources, now 

hugely needed. For more than a century, 

visitors have described Brazil as the next 

great country in the world. This time round, 

it might be true. 

Now you may think there is nothing new 

about all this excitement. Don’t we already 

know about the huge Chinese building boom 

in Shanghai and Beijing, for example? I do 

not think we know the half of it yet. China’s 

vast manufacturing machine is going to seize 

global markets in a way never seen before. 

The export of Western jobs outsourced to 

India (and probably many other places) will 

jump up the skills chain year by year, as the 

West learns how to use the torrent of educated 

people pouring out of the BRICs universities. 

Old industrial countries are going to have to 

redefine what they are good at. Forget 

commodity manufacturing. In the face of the 

£30 or $30 DVD player, developed countries 

will be able to make sustainable profits only 

from bespoke goods and services delivered 

with fabulous speed and accuracy to customers 

close at hand, with an intimacy unimaginable 

until now. (British on-line Grocery services 

such as Ocado and Tesco.com are at the 

very beginning of this). 

It is said that the history of civilisation is the 

long migration from the country to the cities. 

It is being given a new impetus by the rise of 

countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China. 

Like globalisation, it brings a number of key 

challenges. But if we can find a way of 

coping with huge new demands for energy 

and raw materials, there is also the prospect 

that in the 2 st century the globe will become 

a healthier, wealthier and wiser place. 

Rexam’s growth across the globe 

With high growth opportunities, emerging 

markets are one of the corner stones of 

Rexam’s growth strategy. Rexam’s plastic 

business is widely dispersed across the globe 

having a presence in many emerging markets 

from Brazil to China. However, historically, 

the can business has been concentrated in 

Western Europe and the USA. This is now 

changing with recent movements into the 

Middle East, China and Brazil. 

Rexam is constantly looking to strengthen its 

position in emerging markets, either through 

acquisitions or new plant builds.

EMERGING MARKETS 

RUSSIA 

Rexam Russia’s ’Family Day’ 

“The Family Day” has already become an 

annual tradition for our Naro Forminsk 

facility in Russia. 

We were pleased to see that the interest 

in our business is growing among both 

employees and their relatives as nearly 600 

people attended the event this year, despite 

bad weather. 

As in previous years, the celebrations began 

with a brief plant tour (both of the Can Plant 

and End Module) conducted by employees. 

This enabled employee’s relatives and 

acquaintances to see with their own eyes 

where members of their families work. 

Completing the tour of the facilities and 

having the various elements explained by 



visitors relatives helped 

create a feeling of good will 

and brought the families and 

company closer. 

With the tours completed, 

the guests were invited to 

the ‘camp’, which had been 

specially decorated for the 

holiday celebrations and 

was where the remainder 

of the day, and indeed the 

main festivities, took place. 

Recognition 

The formal portion of the day started with a 

welcome speech by Erik Hoggardh, Rexam 

General Director of Naro Forminsk, 

Alexander Issaev, Can Plant 

manager, and Victor Diakov the 

Production Manager of the End 

Plant. Followed by certificates 

and bonuses to Can Plant and 

End Plant employees for best 

performance during the first six 

months of the year. Eight people 

were recognised for their 

“Best Department Employee” 

nominations and a total of 

31 people were rewarded for 

outstanding performance. We are 

extremely grateful to them for their 

achievements. 

The following entertainment 

program was opened by a 

special dance group who 

demonstrated several different, 

but equally wonderful, “world 

peoples’” dances. 

Guests were able to take part in many 

competitions and recreate under tents, 

where different refreshments, tea, hot-dogs, 

hamburgers and pizza were offered.

We hope that by continuing these 

Rexam hosted family events we are 

demonstrating how much we value 

our employees and recognise their 

commitment. 

As for the competitions, there were plenty 

to suit any taste, including ‘Best Asphalt 

Drawing’, numerous sporting competitions 

and competing with suggestions for “The 

Slogan” which were marked with particular 

humour and fun, along with a specialist quiz 

“What do you know about Rexam?” None of 

the participants of the competitions remained 

without recognition as everybody got a prize. 

Outdoor and sporting games for kids were 

held in a closed camp area and the clowns 

never let anyone get bored. We were 

pleased to observe that both guests and 

Rexam employees took an active part in 

competing in the fun. 

As with last year, the ‘Best Kid’s Drawing’ 

competition (see entries below) for children 

of the parents working at Rexam resulted in 

some very artistic creations and many prizes 

being given out by Rexam. 

We hope that all participants of the holiday, 

both adults and kids, had fun, were able to 

get to know each other more closely, and will 

remember this joyful event fondly. 

EMERGING MARKETS, RUSSIA 

We hope that by continuing these Rexam 

hosted events we are demonstrating how 

much we value our employees and recognise 

their commitment. We also hope that in doing 

so our employees are proud of saying they 

our part of the Rexam community.

GOVERNANCE 

Launching our 

Code of Conduct 

Rexam fully appreciates the need and 

importance to act with integrity and honesty 

and deal fairly and responsibly with those 

with whom we come into contact. Acting with 

integrity and honesty means that we must 

adhere to and support a sense of ethics and 

business conduct which places our dealings 

with one another and with our various 

stakeholders, above and beyond reproach. 

”Great companies 

know how to behave” 

The Rexam Worldwide Code of Employee 

and Business Conduct demonstrates our 

commitment to ethical business conduct, to 

comply with all relevant laws and regulations 

around the world and to show beyond doubt 

that such conduct is a fundamental part of 

Rexam’s values and corporate culture. 

It is the duty of everyone to familiarise 

themselves with the code and to act accordingly. 

Our fellow employees, shareholders, customers, 

suppliers and other stakeholders expect no less 

from us. 

What does the code cover? 

It reflects many of the policies and procedures 

that are already in place throughout Rexam. 

Although it cannot be expected to cover every 

circumstance that could conceivably arise; it 

should, however, give basic guidance as to 

how you should deal with a particular situation 

and, most importantly, where you should go 

for more detailed guidance. 



How will it be implemented? 

Implementation is every employee’s 

responsibility. However, Rexam can only live 

up to the commitments contained in this code 

if we all act with integrity and if we speak 

up, as individuals, when we should. If you 

are unsure of how to act or become aware of 

activities that are improper or possibly illegal, 

talk to your line manager or Human Resources 

Manager in the first instance, or contact the 

Raise Your Concern helpline. 

The code covers a number of key areas: 

Employees 

• Rexam employees are expected to treat 

each other with respect, fairness and dignity. 

Harassment, victimisation or bullying of any 

employee, for any reason, will not be 

tolerated. 

• Rexam respects the rights and dignity of 

all its employees and will treat them fairly. 

We welcome and promote diversity in our 

workforce and will support implementation 

of The Rexam Way core values to develop 

our people and provide them with a 

challenging and rewarding workplace 

environment. 

• All Rexam employees are responsible for 

complying with the laws and regulations 

applicable to their areas of responsibility. 

Health, safety and the environment 

• We ensure a safe working environment, 

which benefits our employees, customers, 

suppliers, contractors, shareholders, the 

communities in which we operate and all 

those affected by Rexam’s operations. 

• We have a duty to take 

reasonable care for our own health 

and safety and for the health and safety 

of other people affected by our actions. 

Business 

• Our intent is, at all times, to compete in the 

marketplace on the basis of the highest 

ethical conduct, quality, reputation and price. 

• We are committed to meeting and exceeding 

our customers’ expectations as we comply 

with our contractual obligations and high 

quality standards. 

• We will select and treat our suppliers for 

products, materials and services impartially 

and without discrimination. 

• We seek compliance with all competition 

and anti-trust laws in all countries where 

we manufacture or sell our products. 

• No illegal or improper payments may be 

made to employees of Rexam’s suppliers, 

customers or competitors or to any 

government officials or employees. 

Assets 

• A duty to preserve, protect and prevent the 

dissipation of Rexam’s assets, including its 

property, plant, equipment and monies. 

• Every Rexam employee has responsibility 

for protecting the Group’s confidential 

information. 

• Employees may not buy or sell or transfer 

securities of Rexam PLC or buy or sell any 

property or assets, on the basis of material 

non-public information acquired through 

employment of Rexam which may be share 

price sensitive.

GOVERNANCE 

Implementing policy 

across Rexam 

Each of Rexam’s businesses have been rolling 

out our Group policies and procedures using 

individually developed strategies relevant to 

their own structures and cultures. To help our 

businesses we have also created a procedural 

document on ‘Implementing global policy’. 

Below are just a few examples of some of the 

work that has been carried out. 

Rexam Beverage Cans Europe 

& Asia (BCEA) 

Our BCEA business Sector chose to use their 

developed and dedicated HR function to roll 

out the new Rexam policies (and re-iterate 

existing policies) to each of their businesses. 

BCEA has regular sector HR meetings to 

discuss relevant topics and initiatives. In recent 

meetings several presentations have been 

held to run through the various Rexam policies 

and to agree the strategy going forward. 



In part, the presentation hoped to raise 

awareness and ensure the correct level of 

priority is given to policies on business agendas, 

but also to look at how Rexam can continue 

to develop, roll out and measure the success 

of policy implementation. 

The Group wide strategy of allocating one 

‘National Coordinator’ for each country in 

which we operate, was also presented to 

the HR Managers, followed by a request for 

confirmation of support and buy in to the 

strategy. The purpose of electing the national 

co-ordinators is to build on the existing policies 

making them relevant to each country and 

the correspondingly associated issues, 

followed by further translation into local 

dialects/languages and further roll out and 

communication on a local level with the hope 

of further increasing support and awareness. 

As a follow up, the policies discussion was 

then carried over to the next meeting as a 

means to re-emphasise the process once 

again and to ensure that all were present 

and ‘bought in’ to the strategy and action 

plan agreed. 

POLICY IMPLENTATION 

Also covered in previous meetings was a 

specialist additional focus on the Code of 

Conduct and the Rexam Whistleblowers 

policy (which outlines Rexam’s externally 

hosted ‘Raise Your Concern’ helpline that has 

been set up for any employee who feels the

need to raise what they consider to be a 

genuine concern in the knowledge that they 

will not face harassment or victimisation as a 

result). The code and policy have been rolled 

out globally across all our businesses, and 

using HR networks to do so has enabled 

‘on-site’ management of the policy and 

awareness. 

Rexam Beverage Cans South America 

(BCSA) 

Our Beverage Can South America sector 

used a different approach and strategy. Their 

Communications team visited all our South 

America units to hold individual presentations 

for management teams and supervisors, and 

to hold discussions on the importance of the 

policies. They also explained how they are 

related to the ‘Rexam Way’ and applicable 

to respective employees’ daily activities. 

Attendees also received printed copies of 

the policies and our Code of Conduct. The 

managers and supervisors then took what 

they had learnt in the meeting and each held 

their own meeting to present the policies to 

each of their teams, thus ensuring the roll out 

reached all employees. 

The dedication and commitment of our 

communications team in South America has 

meant that policy roll out was extended to 

every employee in each of our locations, 

GOVERNANCE, Implementing policy 

Using our HR 

network has 

enabled on site 

management 

of policies and 

awareness 

highlighting the importance of the Rexam 

Policies and how, by understanding and 

adhering to them, we can improve our 

performance, have transparency, and 

encourage fairness and ethical behaviour, 

all using well-structured and supported 

processes.

GOVERNANCE 

Raise Your Concern 

The Rexam helpline 

Raise Your Concern helpline 

We must all be able to trust that the actions 

of others are guided by fairness, respect and 

integrity. But what happens if they are not? 

What can employees do if they notice 

something is wrong? 

Ordinarily, employees who are concerned 

about conduct and practices that may be in 

breach of the Code of Conduct would report 

them to their line manager or Human Resources 

Manager. However, there may be times when 

this is not possible. 

Confidential, independent service 

The ‘Raise Your Concern’ helpline is a 

confidential service that allows employees to 

report their concerns anonymously without 

fear of intimidation, reprisal or retaliation. 



Independent third party 

who ensures the anonymity 

of the caller 

It is everyone’s responsibility to speak up if 

they suspect that there is serious misconduct 

or malpractice, taking place at, or connected 

with, the workplace. It is also the company’s 

responsibility to ensure that where concerns 

are raised they are dealt with appropriately. 

With this in mind, the Raise Your Concern 

helpline provides all employees with the 

facility to report any concerns they may have 

via an independent third-party who ensures 

the anonymity of the caller (if the caller wishes 

to remain anonymous). They then report the 

matter to senior management in Rexam PLC 

for investigation. 

How do employees raise a concern? 

If someone does have a concern, they 

should raise it, in the first instance, with 

their line manager (or his or her superior), 

Human Resources Manager or another senior 

manager at their site. However, if this is not 

possible, they should call the helpline. 

The service is available 24 hours a day, 

7 days a week with translation services also 

available to ensure that everyone can discuss 

their concerns in private.

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