UK-based food manufacturing company 2 Sisters Food Group has announced that 90% of the plastic components in its branded products and 90% of the packaging it uses will be recyclable by 2020.
The group has also pledged to provide access to re-useable or recyclable cups or mugs to all of its 23,000 colleagues and that all non-recyclable cups and bottles will be phased out at its 36 sites in the UK by the end of 2018.
The company announced the commitments as part of its 2018 recycling strategy, which will see it drastically reduce plastic packaging. As per this plan, it will follow the waste hierarchy of ‘prevent, re-use and recycle’.
The food producer plans to pursue innovative collaborations with retailers and suppliers to develop 'closed loop' solutions in order to increase packaging recycling.
Further, it will constantly review targets in line with developing technology to move further up the waste hierarchy, the company said.
Culture Change
“We need a culture change to make the biggest difference – both in the way we use plastics for our products and how we use plastics in our everyday lives,” said Ranjit Singh Boparan, president of Boparan Holdings Limited, the manufacturer’s parent company. “So we’re totally committed to putting in place some stretching targets I know my teams in the business are eager to achieve in the next 20 months.
“We already operate responsibly and through our company’s sustainability plan, called Feeding Our Future, but we are keen to take things further than ever before. We have collaborated with our suppliers, partners and customers on reducing and improving recyclability of plastic packaging for several years, and now we will do so again to achieve a real step-change by 2020.”
2 Sisters also pledged to report publicly on the progress of its 2018 strategy in 12 months’ time.
“This is a complex issue that requires the involvement, collaboration and innovation of all parties involved in the production, distribution, retail and consumption of food, and we want to act as the lead partner in this,” Boparan said.
Plastic Trend
2 Sisters is the third major company to announce a plastic waste strategy this week, after Nestlé and UK retailer Waitrose unveiled similar schemes.
Nestlé said it wants to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, while Waitrose pledged to ban disposable coffee cups from its shops by this autumn.
Frozen foods retailer Iceland blazed the plastic-free trail when it committed in January to ensuring a plastic-free private label range by 2023.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
