MCC Verstraete achieves CO2-neutral production

MCC Verstraete has always placed great importance on sustainability and is always looking for ways to minimise the impact of its products and production processes on the environment. At the end of March, MCC Verstraete’s Belgian production units in Maldegem and Ursel reached a milestone when it obtained the certificate of CO2 neutral production. 

MCC Verstraete (until recently known as Verstraete IML) is a pioneer in terms of sustainability. As Peter Grugeon, Managing Director at MCC Verstraete put it: "We produce labels that become part of plastic packaging and of course we are aware of the (ecological) challenges our sector faces. For many years we have been focusing on making plastic packaging more sustainable, both through international collaborations and through our own R&D we are helping to build solutions to achieve a circular economy for plastic packaging.”  In this context, the company is also taking a close look at its own production processes. Rational energy and raw material consumption, reducing the total CO2 footprint and reducing and recycling own production waste, are central themes in this.

An independent third party officially certified MCC Verstraete’s Belgian production sites in Maldegem and Ursel as carbon neutral. A milestone and a pioneering example within Multi-Color Corporation, as it’s the first site to obtain the CO2 neutral production certificate.

MCC Verstraete has reduced CO2 emission from 5,000 tonnes CO2 eq. to zero. Leading up to the certificate are a number of projects, actions and optimisations that were put in place to minimise greenhouse gas emissions, and to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the company, among them: investments in 100+ systems and software for monitoring electricity, water, gas, etc.; switch to LED lighting and replacement of light switches by presence detection; prevention of slumber consumption; optimisation of cooling system; heat recovery; electricity purchased and used is 100% green, part of which is generated by own solar panels; and forestry project in Guatemala. 

After installing the above initiatives a remainder of 528 tonnes was achieved. This remainder was compensated by investing in a forestry project in Guatemala which aims at ecosystem conservation and protection.   

MCC Verstraete has over 30 years of experience in offset-printing labels on polypropylene (PP) for injection moulding, blow moulding and thermoforming. In-depth understanding of materials, innovation and sustainability has made MCC Verstraete a world leader, producing over 60 million in mould labels every single day for numerous segments within the plastic packaging industry.

MCC Verstraete is a Multi-Color Company. With over 9,000 dedicated employees, MCC Label operates 80 label producing operations in over 27 countries today. Established in 1916 and headquartered near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Multi-Color Corporation has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most awarded label printers today supporting the world’s most prominent brands.