Making a Difference: Environmental

Sustainability at Great Northern

Since 1962, Great Northern has been an industry leader in developing and manufacturing sustainable packaging. Our approach to sustainability focuses on designing every component of a product package or retail display in an environmentally responsible way – including the types and amount of materials used, the processes employed in production, and the methods of transport and delivery.

We have an internal focus centered on process improvement, with a commitment to invest in equipment and practices that reduce the amount of energy, natural resources, and waste required to operate our businesses. For those who do business with us, we have a customer-based focus to design and engineer products that utilize less material and are produced with more eco-friendly processes, ultimately reducing the impact our packaging has on the environment.

The results mean delivering to our customers packaging and display solutions that have equal or better performance in the supply chain, improved outcomes on sustainability scorecards and have the potential for cost reduction.

A commitment to our planet makes us more efficient for our clients. In 2014, our Chicago facility installed 780 new solar panels, bringing its total deployment to 1,430. In addition to the renewable energy it supplies that reduces our carbon footprint, solar panels also prove to be financially responsible. In 2023, our Chicago facility generated 296,603 kWh of electricity, which is enough energy to provide electricity to 27 average households in a year.

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Materials

The main material for our products, paper, come from biomass, or biogenic carbon. This is carbon that has been absorbed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis and stored in trees and vegetation. When that carbon is returned to the environment via decay or burning, it is part of an endless natural loop that recycles those carbon atoms (the terrestrial carbon cycle). According to the U.S. EPA and Natural Resources Canada, the pulp and paper industry is responsible for only 0.5% and 1.2% of total annual CO2 emission for their respective countries.

100% of the wood fiber that goes into our corrugated products comes from providers that follow Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) practices and is 100% recyclable after use, with the exception of our wax-coated products. Post-consumer recycled (PCR) content varies widely with board grade. We can provide specific information to customers upon request.

Great Northern utilizes water-based inks. The carrier for these inks (water) is sustainable and emits very few harmful VOCs.

Steel is North America’s #1 most recycled material. Steel, the main material in our permanent retail displays is 100% recyclable. Our Chicago facility also recycles 100% of its steel scrap. Great Northern Instore uses steel and other environmentally friendly materials to construct our display programs.

Note 1: It’s True: Paper Products Are Not a Major Contributor to Climate Change. Here’s Why…, Kathi Rowzie March 30, 2022.

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Production

Local & Accidental Pollution – Emissions
Great Northern manufacturing facilities meet all applicable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state, and local environmental rules and regulations and seeks to minimize our impact to the air, soil and water.

Great Northern manufacturing facilities employ good housekeeping practices that have been designed to maintain a clean and orderly work environment. Team members are trained annually on spill response procedures.

To protect the local communities in which we operate, Great Northern strictly follows the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act reporting thresholds for any hazardous chemicals that may be used.

Waste
Our teams have reached significant milestones in our commitment to reducing waste in 2023: Our Racine facility reached a 97.5% recycle rate, our Chippewa Falls facility reached at 97.7% recycle rate, and our Twin Cities facility reached a 97.2% recycle rate.

These are tangible examples of the strong culture of our team, and the belief that improving recyclability is simply the right thing to do.

Robotics
To streamline our processes and increase efficiency, Great Northern has been investing in robotics to create greater efficiencies, productivity, and waste reduction. Our Chicago facility uses robotic handling for our fiber laser machines that allows the facility to “run-dark” without operators during off-shifts, allowing for greater production during non-peak hours with less building resources required.

Robots that help with palletization in our Oshkosh facility speed production, reduce strenuous repetitive tasks for our team members, and reliably completed orders with little waste.

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Transportation

Working with our internal logistics partner, the Great Northern team has successfully implemented several initiatives that have enabled us to improve our logistics through more efficient routing, better cube utilization of trailers and fewer empty hauls. One critical element of this program has been analyzing the patterns of shipments traveling between our facilities. In addition, optimizing our backhauls from our Twin Cities location has had a material impact toward achieving a 500,000 mile reduction of empty trailers.

With a focus on reducing dedicated fleet empty miles – when trailers don’t contain any product – we have implemented a successful backhaul program for our Oshkosh plant with raw material inbounds that has resulted in an empty mile reduction of nearly 30,000 miles annually. That’s nearly 4,615 less gallons of diesel needed to run our routes every year.

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Product End-of-Life

All paperboard used in Great Northern’s corrugated packaging products is recyclable with the exception of our wax-coated corrugated products. Additional information may be requested for any non-paper substrate or component that is ordered through Great Northern. Corrugate, according to the Fibre Box Association, has had a recycling rate hovering near 90% for the past nine years. With this success, corrugated box fibers that are recycled are used 7-10 times to make new boxes and other paper products.

Steel, the main material in our permanent retail displays, is also 100% recyclable and our Chicago facility recycles 100% of its steel scrap. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, it is the most recycled material in the world. Each ton of steel recycled conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore and 1,400 pounds of coal.

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Great Expectations

Great Expectations is more than a tagline, it is an attitude. At Great Northern, customer challenges are met by an undying spirit to doing what others can’t or won’t. It’s in our DNA. And it is what our customers have come to expect with Great Northern.

How can we exceed your expectations?

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