Our natural ingredients come from plants and we are working to make sure our packaging does too. The packaging we use for our products is how we protect them against damage, minimise food waste and maintain our high standards of food safety and quality. Until now, our industry has relied on plastic as the optimal material to achieve these ends but we are leading the charge in finding a new way.
Whilst our plastic packaging is designed to be recycled, we know that not all of it is. That is why we are working with partners to create innovative plastic-free packaging. We have set ourselves a stretching ambition to reduce our plastic packaging by 80% (per tonne of production) by the end of 2030. Going plastic-free is a huge task – we will harness the brainpower of the Upfielders in our R&D department, form collaborations and work with recycling organisations to achieve our goal.
We are not just working to tackle plastic waste. We are also committed to reducing the carbon footprint associated with our packaging, as we develop new packaging formats. We will introduce better packaging solutions that reduce the climate impact of our packaging footprint and we will also increase the use of renewable materials. As always, we will track and measure this commitment by conducting Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) on the impact of our packaging and communicate with consumers about lower-impact packaging materials to encourage sustainable consumption. We are also rolling out carbon labelling on our packaging to promote environmental transparency to our consumers. Check out our work on Carbon Labelling here.
Our packaging uses pulp and paper, which is sustainably sourced and will continue to do so as we innovate our way out of plastic. We require our suppliers to achieve independent certification that the paper we use is sustainably sourced, by complying with the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Standards, or equivalent (PEFC) . Where viable, we use recycled material for our products. We focus on eliminating deforestation from our supply chain, as well as better understanding and addressing potential issues arising out of forest degradation and the reduction of biodiversity. We go to great lengths to carefully adhere to all local and national policies, sourcing from only legally-harvested wood and from sustainable sources. Protection of high-carbon-stock forests, as well as protection of high conservation value sites, also drive our sustainability efforts.
We are working to make our packaging more circular by increasing recycled content and ensuring all our packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable. Over 90% of our packaging is already recyclable, reusable or compostable and our goal is to ensure all our packaging in recyclable by 2030, as well as doubling our use of recycled content. Where our materials come from is also important - we ensure, for example, that all the paper and cardboard we use is sustainably sourced and both materials can be made with high levels of recycled content
Our other pillars
Plant based
GOAL: 1 billion people choose our delicious plant-based products.
Healthier lives
Goal: 200 million lives positively impacted with access to affordable and healthy nutrition.
Better planet
GOAL: Pioneer food that's better for the planet. Showcase our plant-based benefits while reducing our own footprint.