Yoghurt producer Danone has agreed to join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) in its quest to achieve a ‘circular economy’, the charity said in a statement.
Danone will be the foundation's ninth ‘Global Partner’, which will see the French food giant take steps to ‘produce quality products that preserve natural resources cycles, while also enabling future growth for the business.'
The circular economy is a model which strives to keep resources in use for as long as possible. When they have reached the end of their life, efforts are made to recover materials or energy and create new products, such as making fleece out of plastic water bottles.
It has also signed up to the EMF’s New Plastics Economy Initiative, through which it will revise its packaging policies and methods by using 'regenerative' materials and devising a 'second-life' for all plastics. The three-year process will see Danone receive education and training from the foundation as a means of reaching these objectives.
"At Danone we are committed to treasuring every single drop of water or milk or every gram of plastic," commented Pascal De Petrini, Danone executive vice president for strategic resource cycles.
"In recent years, we have been transforming our approach, and are convinced that systemic change is key to fostering sustainable business growth and preserving natural resource cycles. Working with EMF will allow us to accelerate our shift to a more circular value chain, while continuing to bring health through food to as many people as possible."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
