Investing in sustainability: Avient’s roll as a producer and supplier
As part of our Circular Economy Tour 2025, Ruari McCallion visited Avient at its Knowsley, UK, facility.
Avient Corporation, based in Avon Lake, Ohio, USA, operates over 100 production sites across 35 countries and employs approximately 9,400 people. The company provides advanced material solutions to a wide range of industries, including packaging, healthcare, transportation, construction, consumer goods, and telecommunications.
One of Avient’s key facilities is located in Knowsley, near Liverpool, England. This site serves as the company’s primary production hub for solutions tailored to the PET bottle industry and also houses Avient’s global R&D center for PET packaging. The facility spans four buildings within an industrial estate, strategically positioned near major transport routes and Liverpool docks.
A strategic sustainability focus
Avient’s purpose is to be an innovator of materials solutions to help our customers succeed, while enabling a sustainable world. The company collaborates with its customers to develop materials solutions that help them achieve their sustainability goals, navigate complex regulatory challenges, and catalyze their growth.
As part of this path, Avient has developed a portfolio of materials and service solutions addressing three key sustainability drivers: RENEW solutions to enable a circular economy; REDUCE solutions that reduce weight and energy consumption; and PRESERVE solutions that preserve and protect natural resources and human life.
Avient’s sustainability strategy goes beyond internal goals—it’s developed to empower customers to innovate and meet their environmental targets. As a provider of color and additive solutions for plastic packaging, Avient helps, e.g., clients enhance the recyclability of their products. This includes offering additives and colorants that do not compromise the quality of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials, as well as solutions that improve PCR quality during the extrusion process at recycling facilities.
The company’s commitment to sustainability is recognized externally: Avient holds a Silver Medal from EcoVadis, placing it in the top 15% of its industry, and has earned an A- climate score from CDP. It has also been named among the most sustainable companies by Newsweek, Barron’s, and Forbes. Avient’s latest 94-page sustainability report outlines its comprehensive environmental initiatives.
Ambitious 2030 goals
Avient has set clear sustainability targets for 2030, including:
- 55% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 2019 levels)
- 60% of energy is sourced from renewables
- 100% recyclable or reusable packaging
Progress is already underway: in 2024, Avient achieved a 52% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and 61% renewable energy usage .
The company’s sustainable product portfolio supports packaging, lightweighting, energy-efficient production, and low-carbon innovations. In 2023 alone, Avient completed 118 energy-saving projects, resulting in 13 GW of annual energy savings, and 84 waste reduction initiatives diverting 14 tons from landfill. Many production cooling systems now operate in closed loops, with recovered heat repurposed for building heating. Each site tracks waste, energy, and water usage monthly.
Path to carbon neutrality by 2052
Since 2016, Avient’s portfolio of sustainable products has more than tripled. The company aims for 100% of consumer packaging products to be recyclable, reusable, or compostable, and is targeting complete carbon neutrality by 2052. This long-term plan includes evaluating all supplier spending for alignment with Avient’s sustainability goals.
Investing in innovation at Knowsley
Over the past years, Avient has invested in upgrading its Knowsley R&D center, equipping it with advanced testing and analysis tools, as well as lab production lines that replicate customers’ conversion processes.
The lab focuses on formulation development challenges, including finding alternatives to PFA (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in polyolefin processing. During a recent visit by PETplanet, lab tests were underway to study oxygen ingress, barrier performance, and possible quality improvements of PCR – all part of Avient’s drive to push the boundaries of sustainable packaging innovation.
Yours,
Ruari McCallion
PS: Are you interested in taking part in the tour? Then send us an email to: [email protected]
