Dairy giant Arla has announced plans to roll out sustainable packaging for its products in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK.
By the end of the year, it aims to make 600 million fresh-milk cartons renewable and 560 million yoghurt pots recyclable.
Impact On Markets
“Fresh milk and yoghurts are enjoyed on a daily basis in most households in our main markets, and are also key to our retail customers. That’s why these items topped our list of packaging to improve, from a sustainability perspective, and our pan-European presence enables us to leverage our scale and impact several markets simultaneously,” said Arla’s head of Europe, Peter Giørtz-Carlsen.
Arla’s new 100% renewable milk cartons will use bio-based plastic derived from sugar cane or forest waste, while yoghurt pots will be made of recyclable plastic.
The production of the new milk cartons will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25%, compared to their fossil fuel-based plastic predecessors, Arla reported.
Sustainability Goals
In March of this year, the dairy giant announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% for every kilogram of milk over the next decade and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Earlier, Arla had implemented several measures to cut CO2 emissions from its packaging processes.
These include weight reductions, switching to bio-based plastics, incorporating recycled materials, and replacing greenhouse gas-intensive materials from its packaging materials.
‘Biggest-Ever’
Target
Giørtz-Carlsen added, “We have a rich back catalogue of moves that have made our packaging better for the environment over the years, but this year’s conversion of more than one billion packaging items is one of our biggest ever.”
“Coupled with some other, smaller initiatives, it means we will hit our CO2 savings target for packaging for 2019, but we have to deliver every year, so we are already developing plans for next year’s reduction,” he furthered.
Since 2005, Arla has reduced emissions in packaging by 25%, which is equivalent to 123,000 tonnes of CO2.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
