The Kraft Heinz Company has announced an aim to ensure that 100 per cent of its packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025 as it seeks to reduce its natural resource usage and overall environmental footprint.
The well-known food retailer, which currently enjoys an annual turnover of $26.2 billion (£20.25 billion) and employs 39,000 people around the world, made the announcement last week (31 July), building on its 2017 corporate social responsibility report, ‘Growing a better world’.
In order to achieve its stated packaging aims, the company will ‘aggressively pursue technical alternatives’ and collaborate externally with packaging experts and organisations to explore technical, end-of-life and infrastructure solutions for its packaging.
Kraft Heinz has also announced that it will work towards increasing the usage of recycled content in its packaging and decreasing the overall volume of packaging used. Kraft Heinz has already exceeded its commitment to reduce the total weight of its global packaging by 50,000 tonnes.
The company is also working to make its recyclable Heinz Tomato Ketchup PET plastic bottle, one of its most recognisable products, fully circular by 2022, by using recycled material that can be made back into food-grade packaging.
Commenting on the announcement, Bernardo Hees, CEO at Kraft Heinz, said: “Our collective industry has a massive challenge ahead of us with respect to packaging recyclability, end-of-life recovery and single-use plastics. Even though we don’t yet have all the answers, we owe it to current and future generations who call this planet ‘home’ to find better packaging solutions and actively progress efforts to improve recycling rates. That’s why Kraft Heinz is placing heightened focus on this important environmental issue.”
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.