Beyond the Bin: Turning Aluminum Waste Into Circular Value

Beyond the Bin: How Coppice Is Turning Aluminum Waste Into Circular Value

For food packaging manufacturers, waste is often seen as a necessary cost of doing business. At EP Group, we see it differently. Across our operations—including our UK-based manufacturing division, Coppice—we’re rethinking waste from the ground up.

By redesigning systems, not just products, we’re delivering real-world results: lower material loss, fewer defects, and a more circular aluminum supply chain. Here’s how we’re doing it.

Smarter Detection, Less Rework

At Coppice, we’ve developed an award-winning Split Detection System that automatically identifies micro-defects in aluminum trays during production—before they reach packing lines. Built in collaboration with a local electronics partner, this in-house innovation has been rolled out to 84% of Coppice’s smoothwall press lines.

The impact?

• Dramatic reductions in production waste

• Fewer rejected trays

• Consistently higher quality for customers

This isn’t lab theory—it’s live, and it’s delivering.

Closed-Loop Recovery, On-Site

We’ve also implemented a high-efficiency Aspirator System that collects clean foil scrap at the point of production, compresses it into cubes, and sends it back to the supplier to be reprocessed into new aluminum rolls. That’s circularity in motion—without the typical inefficiencies or transport emissions.

Thanks to these systems, Coppice reduced its overall scrap rate to 20.8% in 2024, down from 22.9% the year prior. Over millions of units produced, those numbers add up to serious environmental and operational savings.

Circular by Design

All of this supports Coppice’s broader goal: to create packaging that performs and protects—without compromise. The aluminum trays manufactured in the UK today include 25–30% post-process material content, and we continue working with suppliers and customers to increase that number over time.

Because great packaging doesn’t just end with the product—it starts with how it’s made.

Sustainability That Works in the Real World

At EP Group, we’re not just checking ESG boxes. We’re engineering solutions that help our partners reduce Scope 3 emissions, minimize operational risk, and meet their sustainability goals with confidence.

Whether you’re looking for a better-performing tray or a more credible sustainability story, we’re ready to help.

📄 Download the full 2025 Coppice Sustainability Report

→ View Coppice Sustainability Hub