Kraft Heinz Company aims to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025, and also pledges to reduce the overall volume of packaging used, the company announced this week. To achieve its goals, the CPG giant will focus on new technologies and on partnerships. This is an expansion of the company’s environmental stewardship strategy and its efforts to improve the sustainability of its supply chain.
Environmental stewardship is necessary for the success of the company, says Caroline Krajewski, Kraft Heinz’s CSR lead. “Being responsible corporate citizens is important to Kraft Heinz, and we believe integrating sustainable business practices across all facets of our business is critical to our long-term growth and success,” she told Environmental Leader.
But the company knows the challenge that exists when it comes to improving the sustainability of packaging. In fact, the challenge of packaging recyclability, end-of-life recovery and single-use plastics is one faced by the entire food-and-bev industry, says Bernardo Hees, Kraft Heinz’s CEO. Hees acknowledges that “...we don’t yet have all the answers,” but adds that the company owes it to current and future generations to “find better packaging solutions.”
As with most sustainability commitments made by companies today, the pledge will involve looking at new technology and pursuing alternatives to its current packaging processes and materials. To get there, the company says it will partner with packaging experts, organizations and coalitions to explore technical, end-of-life and infrastructure solutions. Kraft Heinz is already collaborating with Environmental Packaging International (EPI) for consulting, tracking and other specialist services in the packaging space.
Driving meaningful change in any area of a business is challenging, Krajewski told us. But the company, which continuously engages in transparent and ongoing dialogue with all of its relevant stakeholders, knows what it needs to do. “...[T]he message is clear,” says Krajewski. “They want to see companies like Kraft Heinz set an example and galvanize others into action.”
To do so, Kraft Heinz will have to “look at current practices in a different light and accelerate efforts to implement more efficient processes,” she adds.
PepsiCo is one of many other food-and-bev company with lofty new packaging commitments. The company aims to design 100% of their packaging to be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable. PepsiCo’s new sustainability report highlighted progress toward their packaging and waste reduction goals.
In related news, Kraft Heinz has joined the Science Based Targets Initiative and is working to set science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals in its supply chain. A focus on supply chain sustainability will be important to the success of the company’s stewardship goals. “We found that most of our emissions are coming from areas outside our direct operations,” says Hees. Supply chain is one area that the company can make the biggest impact on sustainability.
