Three packaging companies are among the honorees that received recognition from the U.S. EPA last week for having the country’s most energy-efficient manufacturing plants.
The four manufacturing facilities are among 103 sites that the agency recognized with Energy Star certification in 2023. The designation is reserved for the top 25% most energy-efficient plants in their sector.
“These ENERGY STAR certified plants demonstrate that cutting the embodied carbon of our industrial products through energy efficiency doesn’t just make environmental sense, it makes economic sense,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release.
The packaging plants on the 2023 Energy Star list are:
- Ardagh’s glass container manufacturing facility in Houston.
- Georgia-Pacific’s integrated paper mill in Brewton, Alabama.
- Georgia-Pacific’s pulp mill in New Augusta, Mississippi.
- Rocky Mountain Bottle Company’s glass container manufacturing facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Georgia-Pacific’s containerboard mill in Brewton previously received Energy Star recognition for 2022 as well. At that time, representatives detailed the plant’s energy-efficiency improvements — many related to its recovery boiler system that generates electricity from natural gas and biofuel residuals. They also described how another $160 million in upgrades to Brewton in 2023 would further boost efficiency.
The EPA announcement for the new honorees highlighted how Ardagh’s Houston plant “operated a highly efficient furnace, used recycled glass, and installed energy-efficient lighting fixtures, among other initiatives.”
The agency explained that plants are scored based on Energy Star performance indicators, on a scale up to 100. Those that score at least 75, meaning they are more energy efficient than 75% of similar facilities nationwide, are eligible to earn the certification. More than 270 plants in 21 manufacturing sectors have achieved Energy Star certification since 2006.
Collectively, the 103 named facilities prevented more than 8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the EPA. The industrial sector generates about 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., mostly from manufacturing plants’ energy use.
