Manufacturing
A care package for the future
How Tony Petrelli keeps CardPak Inc. focused on practicing sustainability
Smart Business Cleveland | February 2009
Page 1 of 1
Tony Petrelli is proud of the awards that
CardPak Inc. has received for producing
packaging that is both durable and environmentally friendly. But it’s not accolades
that Petrelli seeks through the company’s
commitment to sustainability.
Rather, Petrelli hopes employees, clients
and any other stakeholders who come into
contact with CardPak see the company’s
passion for doing what it feels is right and
applies that to its actions.
CardPak has developed numerous sustainable packaging concepts that address
the concerns of major retailers regarding
source and material reductions as well as
recyclability requirements.
The company’s EcoLogical Line of
Packaging has been created to remove significant amounts of packaging materials
from the waste stream and use 100 percent
recycled materials when possible.
Petrelli believes it is his responsibility, as
well as that of his employees, to carry on
the company’s history of finding the safest and most efficient way possible to manufacture its products.
CardPak is able to create products that
reduce the amount of total materials used
while providing consumers with a better
package for protecting and dispensing the
products they buy.
It’s not just the products that CardPak
manufactures, however, that reflect the
company’s commitment to sustainability. By
using more efficient lighting in the company’s plant, energy consumption and carbon
dioxide emissions were trimmed by more
than half, saving a potential 600 barrels of oil
per year.
The company also has adopted a lean
manufacturing strategy that reduces in-plant manufacturing waste by more than
2 percent per month, reducing the amount
of paperboard waste going to the landfill or
having to be collected for recycling by close
to 350 tons annually.
At the same time, the company is able to
collect and provide more than 2,700 tons of fiber waste per year for use in the manufacturing of recycled paperboard for future
packaging products.
So when the company was honored at
the Environmental Printing Awards in
Toronto last February, CardPak employees
were gratified at the recognition. But the
awards do not so much represent a goal
achieved as much as a reinforcement of the
company’s commitment to the future stake-holders of a community we are all a part of:
the Earth.
HOW TO REACH: CardPak Inc., www.cardpak.com or (440)
542-3100
