BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) today released its 2014 global sustainability data, indicating noteworthy improvements toward its corporate and operational sustainability priorities and goals since issuing its biennial sustainability report last year.

"For Ball, sustainability is an integral part of who we are," said Bjoern Kulmann, Ball's director of sustainability. "Each and every day, our employees around the world remain focused on maintaining the careful and deliberate balance of our economic, environmental and social impacts so we remain successful for another century. Our achievements in 2014 are a direct result of their ongoing dedication to and engagement in Ball's sustainability efforts."

Notable global 2014 sustainability highlights include:

Safety

• Ball reduced its total recordable incident rate globally to 1.52, which is substantially lower than the manufacturing industry's average of 4.0, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2013.

Energy

• 20 Ball plants increased their energy efficiency by 5 percent or more.
• Ball signed a contract to build three wind turbines at its Findlay, Ohio, plant, making it the first significant renewable energy project in company history.

Waste

• The company reduced the total amount of waste generated by 5 percent. Thirty-seven of its global manufacturing plants sent zero waste to landfill by the end of the year, which is an increase of 24 plants since 2011. That said, only 9 percent of the total waste Ball generated globally in 2014 was sent to landfills and 70 percent was reused or recycled.

Greenhouse Gases

• Ball reduced its global greenhouse gas intensity by 9.3 percent since 2010, which is a significant step toward its 2015 goal of a 10 percent reduction.

Packaging Recycling

• The 2014 U.S. beverage can recycling rate remained at a historic high of 67 percent. To drive recycling rates of all of its products around the globe even higher, Ball continues working with industry partners in various organizations and programs, including The Recycling Partnership in the U.S., MetalMatters in the U.K. and others.

Cut/4 Carbon

• Ball is making meaningful progress toward its goal to cut the carbon footprint of its beverage cans by 25 percent by 2020. Progress will be reported in August 2015.

Innovation

• Ball and Henkel continued their lightweighting journey, developing an aluminum aerosol can that is 15 percent lighter than the standard aluminum aerosol can. Launched in Europe earlier in 2015, it has an estimated carbon footprint reduction of 12 percent and is the lightest commercially available can available on the market.  

Talent Management

• Ball conducted its second global employee engagement survey, in which 10,800 employees participated. The company's engagement level is 78 percent, indicating that a high number of employees are engaged in Ball's business and culture; feel enabled to do their jobs and are energized by their work.

Supply Chain

• Ball and other aluminum industry leaders continued their engagement in the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative to foster sustainability and transparency in the aluminum value chain, and launched the "ASI Performance Standard – Principles and Criteria" in December.
• Ball conducted its second global supplier self-assessment and achieved a response rate of 100 percent. Results will be released soon.

Community

• The Ball Foundation, Ball and its employees donated more than $4 million to charitable organizations in the communities where Ball operates. Employees also logged nearly 18,000 hours of volunteer service.
• The Ball Foundation invested $1.5 million into community programs that create a positive, measurable impact in education, recycling, food security and disaster relief.
• Ball's plants around the world donated $467,000 to causes in their local communities and organized community events such as recycling and food drives.

"Sustainability continues to be a priority at Ball," Kulmann said. "We have made a lot of progress toward our goals, but recognize that we, in collaboration with our various partners, need to do more to create long-term shared value."

For more information on Ball's ongoing sustainability efforts, please visit www.ball.com/sustainability. Also, for full 2014 sustainability data, visit our updated online data center at www.ball.com/data-center/.

About Ball Corporation
Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2014 sales of $8.6 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99 in our Form 10-K, which are available on our website and at www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect: a) our packaging segments include product demand fluctuations; availability/cost of raw materials; competitive packaging, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve productivity improvements or cost  reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; customer and supplier consolidation, power and supply chain influence; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; political instability and sanctions; and changes in foreign exchange or tax rates; b) our aerospace segment include funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts; c) the company as a whole include those listed plus: changes in senior management; regulatory action or issues including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety, including U.S. FDA and other actions or public concerns affecting products filled in our containers, or chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations; litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; uncertainties surrounding the U.S. government budget, sequestration and debt limit; reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives; interest rates affecting our debt; and successful or unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including, with respect to the proposed Rexam PLC acquisition, the effect of the announcement of the acquisition on our business relationships, operating results and business generally; the occurrence of any event or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of our definitive agreement with Rexam PLC in respect of the acquisition; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us related to the definitive agreement with Rexam PLC; and the failure to satisfy conditions to completion of the acquisition of Rexam PLC, including the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

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SOURCE Ball Corporation