Sonoco's Waco Flexibles Facility Receives Gold Sustainability Star Award

HARTSVILLE, S.C., Dec. 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonoco (NYSE:SON), one of the largest diversified packaging companies, has named the Company's Waco, Texas, flexible facility a gold Sonoco Sustainability Star Award recipient for the plant's successful efforts to achieve landfill free status. Waco is the first Flexibles facility to achieve this award.

The award marks a milestone in landfill-free efforts that have been underway since 2013. Since then, Waco has diverted 90-100 tons per month away from the landfill in the forms of printed OPP, printed PET, LDPE, mPET, PET and fiber cores. Half (50%) of that waste is recycled and converted to energy.

"After the Company announced its goal of taking 10 percent of its facilities landfill free, we began efforts to eliminate the facility's waste streams," said Bob Puechl, vice president, Global Flexible Packaging. "The Waco team took on this challenge for the flexible division. Waco has proven we can become landfill free even with a very difficult product mix."

Administered by Sonoco Recycling, the Company's recycling business, the Sonoco Sustainability Star Awards program is comprised of three tiers:

• Gold recognizes facilities that have achieved 99% landfill diversion.
• Silver is awarded to facilities achieving 95% landfill diversion, and
• Bronze recognizes facilities that have made significant waste reduction achievements, such as drastically reducing their waste streams or implementing a new composting system.

A recycling leader with locations and expertise worldwide, Sonoco Recycling annually collects more than 3 million tons of old corrugated containers, various grades of paper, metals and plastics. In addition, the Company has experts who provide secure, reliable and innovative recycling solutions to residential and commercial customers. Currently, Sonoco Recycling operates five material recovery facilities (MRFs) serving more than 125 communities in which curbside-collected residential and commercial materials are processed. The Company also operates recycling programs which identify waste reduction opportunities that reduce operating expenses for many of the largest consumer product companies in the United States.

About Sonoco:

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized combined sales of approximately $5.4 billion, the Company has more than 21,000 employees working in more than 340 operations in 34 countries, serving some of the world's best known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is a proud member of the 2014/2015 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. For more information on the Company, visit our website at www.sonoco.com.

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