EPL affirms commitment to sustainability
Mumbai-based EPL is recognised as one of the world’s largest speciality packaging companies specialising in manufacturing laminated plastic tubes. The company has been awarded the Gold Medal in 2023 EcoVadis Sustainability assessment and sells over eight-billion tubes each year
23 Jan 2024 | By Aditya Ghosalkar
Anand Kripalu, the global CEO and MD, EPL said, “The gold medal from EcoVadis is a confirmation of our commitment to sustainability. For us, sustainability is not just a ‘nice to do’ but at the core of our business. Our focus on product, people and process sustainability is what will make us ‘lead the pack‘ in the times to come.”
“In FY23, we more than doubled sustainable tube volumes; we aim to again double in FY24. Our employee-centric policies were recently recognised with two awards for: best place to work.”
EPL won the title “Green Company of the Year – Large” at PrintWeek Awards 2023, which was held on 30 October 2023 at The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake.
Spread across 19 facilities, EPL’s factories in India, Cairo, the US, and Europe are highly advanced and reliable, with impressive capabilities. The company is committed to increasing automation in the production of lamitubes, as it believes that automation increases efficiency and improves productivity and reliability.
Recently, EPL received an external certification of five ISO global standards from the TUV-Nord Group and Quality Austria. The audit covered all of EPL’s processes, including blown film, lamination, printing, tubing, and injection moulding. Anand Kripalu, EPL’s managing director and global CEO, stated that the certifications are a testament to the company’s adherence to sustainability.
To keep up with the latest technology, EPL upgraded its entire IT system to SAP S/4 HANA, making it one of the few packaging companies with this system.
Also, EPL invested in a DuPont Cyrel fast thermal system. The move was to up its current water-wash system and demonstrate the company’s commitment to sustainability while also improving the speed and quality of its flexo printing process.
EPL aims to leverage its innovation platform, whether in Vapi or Guwahati. The company has been bringing innovative products to the market for the last four decades, with the help of innovation programs. EPL conducts research in key areas such as barrier science, product resistivity, product migration, sealability, and regulatory compliance.
Kripalu said, “I want to underscore that our ambition is to make EPL the most sustainable packaging company in the world. Not the biggest, not the most specialised, not just the lowest cost, but the most sustainable.”
EPL continues to be a member of the New Plastics Economy, an initiative by Ellen McArthur, India Plastics Pact, Science Based Targets (SBTi) signatory and UNGC (United Nations Global Compact).