Waste & Packaging
- Environment
- Overview
- Climate
- Water
- Waste & Packaging
We are continuously focused on minimizing all forms of waste throughout our operations.
In FY2020, we pledged to accelerate our global waste performance and announced clear targets and a formal commitment to make significant and sustainable progress by 2025.
More specifically, we committed to:
Waste
- Reduce our total waste by 25%.
- Increase our diversion rate to 75%.
- Reduce our food waste by 50%.
- Reduce our material use by 15%.
- Ensure 100% of our packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
- Ensure our packaging includes at least 15% of recycled or renewable content.
Operational and Food Waste
Our focus on operational efficiency and continuous improvement means we are constantly looking for ways to reduce waste and repurpose or divert it from landfills.
In FY21, we focused on improving our waste data to establish our baseline and track future progress. We also advanced in mapping our different waste streams and identifying opportunities for reduction and diversion, which will be implemented starting in FY22.
During the pandemic, we accelerated the roll out of global processes to redistribute food surplus, created by the sudden changes to demand, to food banks. As a result, we donated more than 4 million kilos of products resulting in an estimated reduction of 26 000 tonnes of CO2e.
Packaging
To ensure the integrity and safety of products, packaging is vital, and its potential impact on the environment can be significant. Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental and social impacts of plastics, and, increasingly, the plastic content of a product is influencing buying habits.
In FY21, our divisions focused on building our baseline and developing roadmaps to achieve our 2025 targets, which draw on the circular economy and New Plastics Economy principles. We also set up an internal Sustainable Packaging Group to accelerate our progress and ensure we leverage our global capabilities. In addition, we joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition which brings together businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to collectively advance the business case for more sustainable packaging.
Our FY21 initiatives included the launch of a partnership between our Cathedral City brand and TerraCycle® in the UK as well as the redesign of our Treasure Cave and Frigo packaging in the USA – helping us save more than 270,000 kilos of cardboard every year. You can read about the Cathedral City case study here.
