ECOEX - An Innovative High-Value Recyclable Packaging Solution for Agrochemical Sector

Greif is a global leader in industrial packaging products and services strategically positioned with over 200 operating locations situated across 37 countries. 

In Latin America, Greif has 14 plants located across 6 countries. The agrochemical sector is one of the largest markets in Latin America for Greif, supplying customers with high performing jerrycans and plastic bottles of various capacities ranging from 0.25 liters up to 30 liters, including mono and barrier technology.

In an interview with Gustavo Melo, Global Strategic Marketing Manager at Greif, we learned about how Greif operates in Latin America and serves the agrochemical industry with innovative and sustainable packaging solutions. Gustavo highlighted how Greif’s ECOEX packaging solution, generated out of the company’s internal innovation process in Latin America (LATAM INNOVA), is changing the COEX landscape for the agrochemical sector.

Please introduce Greif LATAM and the services and solutions Greif provides for the agrochemical sector. 

Greif LATAM specializes in the production and supply of steel drums, plastic containers and packaging closures across 14 facilities in six countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala). One of the largest sectors Greif serves in this region is agriculture, both food production (steel, conical and plastic drums) and agrochemicals (jerrycans and plastic bottles).

Brazil's agrochemicals sector is one of the largest in LATAM with Greif supplying high performing jerrycans and plastic bottles in multiple weights, with mono or barrier technology. 

Brazil is also home to our center of excellence for barrier plastic technology which draws together the company’s global expertise, best practice and industry insights to develop sustainable innovations for customers. 

The Greif Green Tool - a powerful environmental modeling tool that uses independent lifecycle data of Greif industrial packaging products - is available to customers to help them make informed decisions about which types of industrial packaging are ideal for their unique packaging needs while helping them to achieve their sustainability goals. Results are used to create an environmental baseline and help customers make meaningful comparisons between different packaging types and track sustainability improvements over time.

How does Greif respond to diversified customer demands in this region?

Alongside Brazil, Greif has operations in Argentina, Colombia and Chile serving key agrochemical customers.  As with our other international markets, we are actively responding to customer demand for more sustainable solutions.  Our culture of continuous improvement has led to the development of the JCR 20L, a lightweight, high performance jerrycan for the agrochemicals sector that is almost 20 percent lighter than the standard 20-liter jerrycan. The reduced weight and new design allow up to seven percent more jerrycans to be stacked per pallet, and warehouse storage capacity can be increased by up to 6.7 percent. In addition, the lighter weight can have lower Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and collection costs for recycling. 

Greif is committed to finding reliable post-consumer resin (PCR) sources to help reduce the use of virgin fossil-based materials in its packaging. Across LATAM, Greif is working towards acquiring machines with low energy consumption with the ability to process PCR in line with customer requirements.

To address the grave issue of counterfeiting to the agrochemical industry, we also collaborate closely with our global closures business, Tri-Sure, who help deliver anticounterfeiting and innovative closure solutions for customers. This is supported by value added services including customized customer solutions and the delivery of innovative packaging designs and processes, as we respond to the needs of the sector.

Finally, our ECOEX packaging solution which has an extended life-cycle material compared to the down-cycled regrind from COEX, is one of the most significant innovations we have introduced into the LATAM marketplace. 

Each year Greif holds its internal sustainability awards open to all teams across the company. We heard that the winner of the Global Environmental Sustainability Award category in 2021 went to Greif’s Global Industrial Packaging (GIP) business in Brazil for its ECOEX Packaging Solution Project. Could you please explain in more detail about this project?

Designed for the agrochemical industry, ECOEX has been developed as a higher value recyclable high-performance, multi-layer barrier technology for jerrycans that reduce recycling costs, carbon emissions, and extend the life cycle of the product.  

Importantly, the ECOEX barrier technology offers a more sustainable alternative to COEX packaging. Unlike COEX, which can only be reground and repurposed for low value applications such as pipes, ECOEX can be recycled and used for higher value, mono, UN certified packaging products.

Generated out of our internal innovation process in Latin America, called LATAM INNOVA, ECOEX was developed in response to a long-standing challenge faced by many of our customers in the agrochemical industry who want higher value, recyclable packaging without compromising on barrier performance. With the market introduction of ECOEX, customers now benefit from multilayer industrial packaging with high performance barriers (Nylon or EVOH) to store solvent-based products that can be recycled into high value UN certified packaging products.

Can you explain why ECOEX is better for the circular economy?

ECOEX offers an extended life-cycle material, compared to the down-cycled regrind from COEX that can only be recycled into low value-added products, such as pipes. Due to its high recyclability properties and the reduction of virgin materials needed to produce new UN certified mono products, such as jerrycans or plastic bottles, our ECOEX based jerrycans result in much lower carbon emissions compared to COEX equivalents. Internal tests indicate up to a 48 percent reduction in carbon emissions with ECOEX due to its higher regrind quality, meaning recycling costs are also reduced, compared to COEX. 

The reduction in carbon emissions is calculated with the Greif Green Tool, which is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculator developed by the IFEU Research Institute in Germany based on ISO 14040/14044 standards.

The high recyclability of multilayer barrier products supports our own circular economy strategy and, as the ECOEX material is less expensive to recycle, it also creates value for customers, as well as supporting their environmental sustainability goals. We are leading a sector initiative in Brazil to convert all COEX based packaging into the more sustainable ECOEX packaging.

Is it an easy process for customers to move from COEX to ECOEX packaging? Are there any special requirements needed, such as re-certifications? 

Customers can easily transition from COEX to ECOEX. Customers that are currently using UN certified COEX packaging can move to ECOEX without the need for UN re-certification. 

The ECOEX is a multilayer barrier packaging that keeps the same physical high-performance barrier layer (Nylon or EVOH) as that of COEX packaging. The internal barrier layer, which is in contact with the filled product, remains the same and due to an enhancement on other layers of the packaging structure, the ECOEX has the higher recyclability properties.

Please introduce the GREIF LATAM INNOVA. What is this PROCESS and how does it contribute to Greif innovations? 

Greif LATAM INNOVA is an innovation hub that brings together all Greif employees to promote a culture of innovation to encourage and nurture ideas. Greif has always worked closely with its customers and partners to create innovative products and services and our innovation hub supports closer working with our partners to foster and support new sustainable business opportunities.

The long standing ESG focus of Greif, and the upholding of these standards to support the environment and future generations, is the core of our innovation activities. All departments of the company now have an innovative mindset and outlook, focusing on the concepts of Core, Adjacent and Disruptive Innovations – and always ensuring these innovative solutions meet the needs of our internal and external customers.

In your opinion, what are the key trends affecting the Agrochemical business?

Results from our own recent market appraisal of the agrochemicals sector, which included industry analysis, online market research, one-to-one interviews with customers and consultations with key industry influencers, found that the two key trends affecting the industry: rising food demand and climate change.

The rise of global food consumption due to high population growth, particularly in developing countries, is driving demand for agricultural products. Some developing countries in Asia and the Pacific will need to increase their food production by up to 77 percent to feed their people by 2050. Additionally, the rising income levels in these populations are changing food consumption patterns, with more animal products, fruits, and vegetables replacing traditional foods such as cereals. This will require additional nutrients and quality crops, which will drive agri-input demand. As a result of these factors, agri-input consumption is set to grow over the medium to long term requiring increased productivity.

Climate change is thought to be affecting pest population sizes, survival rates, geographical distribution, and the intensity and development of various diseases. Rising temperatures are boosting the rate at which insects can digest food, causing them to ingest and demolish crops at a faster rate. Also, in temperate regions, warming temperatures could cause insects, which are ectothermic, or ″cold-blooded″ to become more active and, thus, more able to reproduce. This has increased the frequency of pest outbreaks and created more geographically distributed cases of crop losses. This could create larger opportunities for agrochemical consumption, where companies will need to innovate with a better product mix.

In your opinion, what are the current main challenges facing the agrochemical packaging industry? What is Greif’s core competence in this sector? 

Sustainability is one of the biggest challenges companies face to improve return on investment and economic benefits balanced against their environmental goals. 

Innovations such as our Greif Green Tool, assesses the packaging life cycle as part of our ESG toolkit and allows us to establish an environmental baseline for our customers. The tool also provides our customers with robust trend data, allowing them to evaluate and periodically review progress. This information is vital as the data underpins decisions to deliver improved sustainability as it informs our customer choices on packaging and contributes to their own sustainability goals. 

Greif is playing its part in adding to global best practices on sustainability standards, helping to deliver better value and more sustainable industrial packaging solutions to meet local market customer needs.

We continue to apply our strong ESG standards in our day-to-day operations and drive collaboration and innovation, not only inside our organization, but throughout the whole packaging value chain. A partner-based approach means we can deliver the best outcomes for all stakeholders involved in the agrochemical industry, meeting the needs and expectations of the agrochemical end customer.

What is Greif’s plan for the agrochemicals business in Latin America in the next few years? 

As agrochemicals is one of the world’s fastest growing industries, we expect to see continued growth for our packaging products and services across LATAM, as we continue to champion the development of more sustainable solutions. 

To be recognized as the best performing customer service company in the world, we need to continue to remain close to our customers and to their end customers. Global demand for food continues to grow unabated, so we need to continue making investments in new sustainable technologies and look to build on top of the industry leading ESG initiatives already pioneered by Greif.

If you have interest to know more about us, you can visit our website at www.greif.com.

This article was initially published in AgroPages' '2022 Latin America Focus' magazine.