Materials Management

Sustainable products start with sustainable sourcing. We increasingly source materials with reduced environmental impact, more recycled content, and fewer associated greenhouse gas emissions. We also procure materials that meet our standards for safety and for human and labor rights.   

Governance

Our Avery Dennison Supplier Standards describe the standards our suppliers are required to meet. We require suppliers to sign and agree to our enterprise and business-specific supplier standards, along with a declaration acknowledging our zero-tolerance policies for forced labor and other human rights abuses. Each of our business units is responsible for managing its supply chains in alignment with our enterprise standards. Our businesses share information about suppliers they have in common.  

Goals

We have established ambitious goals to advance the environmental and social sustainability of our supply chain along with delivering sustainable products to customers. 

Reaching our sustainability goals requires close collaboration with our suppliers as we support their continuous improvement. We also perform quarterly reviews with each of our commodity managers, which are then reviewed with our CEO and Senior Director of Operations, to ensure we are on track toward our objectives.

2025 Targets

• Source 100% certified paper, of which at least 70% is Forest Stewardship Council®-certified
• Ensure that 70% of films we buy conform to, or enable end products to conform to, our environmental and social guiding principles
• Ensure that 70% of chemicals we buy conform to, or enable end products to conform to, our environmental and social guiding principles

2030 Target 

• Source 100% of paper fiber from certified sources focused on a deforestation-free future

2030 Targets – Materials Group

• 100% of our standard label products will contain recycled or renewable content
• All of our regions will have labels that enable circularity of plastics

Designing with More Sustainable Materials 

From a product’s conception, we consider the environmental and social impacts of the materials we use. Our MatcheckTM lifecycle analysis tool, which allows us to complete an initial lifecycle analysis of a material to determine the positive and negative environmental effects of incorporating it into our products., along with Eco-Design principles we’re currently testing in Europe, inform our innovation. Resulting products that meet our strict criteria earn a home in our Sustainable AdvantageTM portfolio. 

Sustainable Advantage^TM

Our Avery Dennison Sustainable Advantage™ portfolio contains hundreds of products that help our customers and their end-users decrease materials consumption, reduce their environmental footprint, and support safety, fairness, and human rights. Sustainable Advantage products include labels made with paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, adhesives that make plastic bottles more recyclable, and apparel labels made from renewable resources in factories that meet stringent standards for worker safety and health. Our Sustainable Advantage products align with our sustainability goals and principles, while also helping our customers meet their goals, satisfy consumer demand, and stay ahead of regulations.

For a product to qualify for the Avery Dennison Sustainable Advantage™ Portfolio, at least one of its components must meet at least one of the three sustainability standards:

• Responsible Sourcing: A specific amount of the content is verified to come from sustainably sourced materials.
• Reduction of Materials: The component offers comparable or superior performance using fewer materials.
• Recycle: A specific amount of the content is recyclable, made of recycled content, or enables recycling.

We apply concrete, measurable criteria to ensure that products meet these standards. 

EcoDesign

EcoDesign is a multi-disciplinary and criteria-based process to develop products that have positive social, environmental, and financial impact. We’re currently piloting it in facilities in Europe, with the aim of implementing it across our entire enterprise. EcoDesign methodology provides guidelines for the entire development process, from ideation to implementation, to ensure that each successive generation of product is more sustainable than the last. We also use EcoDesign to scrutinize the use of chemicals in our products more strictly than what is required by law (e.g., REACH). We are working to expand our usage of EcoDesign across our enterprise. 

Restricted Substances 

We closely monitor scientific developments, regulations, and customer and consumer preferences to maintain a Restricted Substances List (RSL) for our company which is followed by LGM and IHM. The RSL enables us to provide our customers with innovative and cost-effective solutions while meeting stakeholder expectations and maintaining compliance with laws and regulations. 

In 2021, we communicated an updated Restricted Substances List (RSL) to our RBIS suppliers. This RSL was developed based on legal requirements, RSL from the American Apparel and Footwear Associations, AFIRM, and requirements from our retail and business customers. Suppliers are responsible for ensuring the content of the products they supply us with do not exceed the maximum allowed value or is not detected above the detection limit based on the specified analytical test methods. To help ensure compliance, we conduct annual training on our RSL to our suppliers

Responsible Paper Procurement

As a significant stakeholder in the supply chain of pulp and paper products, we play an important role in promoting and providing sustainable and socially responsible paper products. Our unique position in the value chain allows us to collaborate with a range of business partners in reducing environmental impacts. We employ science-based analysis to provide the foundation for our responsible paper procurement program.

Our Responsible Paper Procurement Policy details our commitments and expectations of pulp and paper suppliers. We have committed to sourcing 100% of our paper fiber from certified sources, with a preference for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. The Rainforest Alliance annually conducts a validation of our paper certifications, identifying our risks for non-certified risk and unknown sources of paper and providing corrective actions. 

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Our Supply Chain 

Purchased goods and services account for most of our Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. In support of our 2030 target to reduce our scope 3 emissions by 30%, we are using EcoVadis and our CDP Supply Chain membership to gain additional insights into the carbon footprint of our suppliers. We are collaborating with our suppliers to support GHG reduction efforts in their operations. We're also sourcing recycled materials and advancing recyclability across our supply chain. You can learn more about our GHG emission reduction efforts in our section on GHG Emissions and Energy.

Promoting Human Rights in Our Supply Chain 

We are committed to treating our employees with dignity and respect, and to helping ensure that employees in our supply chain are treated the same way. In 2020, we published our Avery Dennison Human Rights Policy. Our policy is guided by widely accepted human rights principles, including those articulated in the International Labor Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and in the United Nations Global Compact. We expect our suppliers to adhere to our Human Rights Policy as well as our Supplier Standards, which also describe our expectations for how workers will be treated. 

Suppliers to our RBIS division must also comply with additional standards governing labor and human rights practices, which are described in RBIS’ Supplier Code. These align with the standards set out in the OECD Integrated Compliance Assurance Programme. 

In 2021, in response to global events and in advance of pending legislation in Europe and the U.S., we communicated with our suppliers to reaffirm our prohibition of forced and child labor in our supply chain, and to remind them of the terms of our Supplier Code, which include our right to terminate supplier relationships if a Code violation occurs. We asked suppliers to reconfirm that they had no instances of forced or child labor. If a supplier was unable to do so, we worked in collaboration with our legal team to remediate the situation, or, when that was not possible, to end our relationship with that supplier.  

Evaluating Suppliers

To ensure we work with suppliers who align with our ethical and environmental standards, we regularly evaluate our supplier relationships through our Sustainable Procurement Program. 

This collaborative evaluation platform provides our suppliers with sustainability ratings and performance improvement tools. Each year, with our partner, EcoVadis, we review suppliers together representing more than 80% of our direct spend on materials for LGM. EcoVadis audits a company’s environmental practices, fair business practices, working conditions, and supply chain. Supplier audit scores and corrective actions are available in EcoVadis’ online system for any competitor or customer who requests the information. Our Sustainable Procurement Program received a Label Industry Global Award in 2018 and the Future of Sourcing Award in 2019.

When a supplier does not meet our expectations, we connect with the supplier to discuss opportunities for improvement and establish corrective action plans when needed. When corrective action is required, suppliers have two opportunities to improve their score before we begin evaluating alternative materials or sources. 

Recognizing Supplier Excellence 

We honor our suppliers with the Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award for extraordinary service to our business. We consider four areas of excellence: Sustainability, Quality, Service, and Strategic Growth. To be eligible for recognition, a supplier must meet  key metrics in each of the four areas.