BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) is distinguishing six of its metal packaging manufacturing plants with the R. David Hoover Sustainability Award for significant progress toward the company's sustainability and business goals, which include making the can the most sustainable package in the supply chain.

The annual award recognizes one plant in each division of Ball's Global Beverage Packaging and Food & Aerosol Packaging businesses for year-over-year and longer-term operational improvements, as well as the plant team's commitment to acting as product stewards, community ambassadors and team players.

The most sustainable plants of 2017 and their achievement highlights include:

Global Beverage Packaging

• Brasília, Brazil (Beverage Packaging South America): The Brasília plant, which is receiving the award for the second consecutive year, achieved another year without a recordable incident, increased its year-over-year water efficiency by 14 percent, reduced its year-over-year normalized natural gas usage by 23 percent, and promoted the can's sustainability credentials in and around their plant.
• Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, USA (Beverage Packaging North & Central America): The plant cut its total recordable incident rate (TRIR) in half over the previous year, reduced its normalized electricity use by 10 percent, increased its water efficiency by 19 percent, and hosted more than a dozen community events at their facility, including Ball's annual Let's Can Hunger food drive.
• Foshan, China (Beverage Packaging Asia Pacific & Beverage Packaging Africa, Middle East & Asia): The Foshan plant reduced its TRIR by 64 percent over the previous year, reduced its normalized water use by 6 percent, reduced its normalized waste generation by 4 percent and increased its recycling rate by another 8 percentage points.
• La Selva, Spain (Beverage Packaging Europe): The plant achieved zero recordable incidents, reduced its year-over-year normalized natural gas usage by 6 percent, supported "Cada Lata Cuenta," the Spanish version of the Every Can Counts recycling program, and were exceptional team players by providing ceaseless support during construction and ramp up of Ball's new beverage can plant near Madrid, Spain.

Food & Aerosol Packaging

• Ahmedabad, India (Ball Aerocan): Ahmedabad reduced its year-over-year normalized natural gas usage by more than 16 percent, reduced its normalized water use by more than 28 percent and the team volunteered to support flood victims in Gujarat after heavy rain struck the region around the plant in June and July 2017.  
• Horsham, Pennsylvania, USA (Ball Tinplate): The plant reduced its TRIR by 54 percent over the previous year, reduced its normalized electricity use by 11 percent, sent zero waste to landfill, and promoted the recyclability of aerosol cans in the local community.

"Congratulations to the 2017 Hoover Sustainability Award winners, who demonstrated an ongoing commitment to improving the sustainability of our operations and our products," said John A. Hayes, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Their efforts and the dedication of all of our plants and employees are critical to achieving our long-term goals of creating value for all of our stakeholders and making the can the most sustainable package."

Ball established the R. David Hoover Sustainability Award in 2011 in honor of the company's former chairman, president and CEO, who was a key driver in the development of Ball's formal sustainability program.

Later this year, Ball will release its 2018 sustainability report, as well as updated, third-party verified sustainability data on www.ball.com. For more information about Ball's ongoing sustainability efforts, please visit www.ball.com/sustainability.

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 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2017 net sales of $11 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," "believes," "targets," "likely" and similar expressions typically identify forward-looking statements, which are generally any statements other than statements of historical fact. Such statements are based on current expectations or views of the future and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied. You should therefore not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements and any of such statements should be read in conjunction with, and, qualified in their entirety by, the cautionary statements referenced below. 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 factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be different 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. Additional 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; competitive activity; failure to achieve synergies, 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 a loss of a major customer or supplier; political instability and sanctions; currency controls; changes in foreign exchange or tax rates, including due to the effects of the 2017 U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; and tariffs on imported raw materials, including pursuant to section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act of 1962; 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 geopolitical events and governmental policies both in the U.S. and in other countries, including the U.S. government elections, budget, sequestration and debt limit; reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives and synergies; interest rates affecting our debt; and successful or unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including with respect to the Rexam PLC acquisition and its integration, or the associated divestiture; the effect of the acquisition or the divestiture on our business relationships, operating results and business generally.

SOURCE Ball Corporation