“…a seven-year runway to figure out the best solution for the environment”
The ketchup packet’s days could be numbered as Kraft Heinz Co. plans to overhaul its global packaging designs to find greener alternatives. It's part of a larger sustainability push that Kraft Heinz is spearheading.
The condiment giant announced in early August that it will aim to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025. That includes its famous ketchup packets, which as any frequent fast-food customer can attest, are frequently wasted or thrown out.
Ketchup packets are constructed from multi-layer laminates which use both plastic and metallic foil. These can't easily be recycled, as the layers are difficult to separate, Caroline Krajewski, Kraft Heinz's head of corporate affairs, explained.
"Everything is on the table," Krajewski said. "There are so many directions we could go." While Krajewski was light on specifics about what a new replacement ketchup packet could look like, she said the company is giving itself a seven-year runway to figure out the best solution for the company and the environment.
That could mean completely redesigning the packets with new materials. Scientists could also figure out a more efficient way to recycle the packets, meaning they wouldn't have to change at all, Krajewski said.
The push is driven in part by customers who want to see corporations take a leading role in the fight against climate change, as well as a group of shareholders who supported a proposal at Kraft Heinz's annual meeting in April to report its recycling efforts. Kraft Heinz joins a long list of its food-industry competitors in pushing for more environmentally-friendly operations. Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nestle SA and Colgate Palmolive, among others, have rolled out sustainability plans in recent months and set explicit deadlines to make their products more friendly to the environment. "Because we share a lot of the same suppliers, we're joining them in that push right now to look at every single aspect of our value chain and determine where we can do better," Krajewski said.
Kraft Heinz has shortened its list of products sold in ready-to-drink pouches and exceeded a goal to cut out 50,000 metric tons of packaging by optimizing its design for some of its products, Krajewski said. The company is collecting data to build a baseline level of how much of its packaging is recyclable and compostable, and plans to disclose that information, she said.
Kraft Heinz isn’t sure yet how it will address non-recyclable and non-reusable packaging, like ketchup packets. Heinz redesigned the 50-year-old squeezable foil-and-plastic packet in 2010 to a larger “dip & squeeze” cup, which reduces waste but still can’t be recycled due to its film cover. New packaging will have to balance sustainability with requirements for food safety, shelf life, distribution, cost and appearance, Krajewski said.
Another option is developing a way to make the current packaging more recyclable or compostable. "We’re really entering brand-new territory here," Krajewski said. "We now have this seven-year runway to create a new solution. Where a technical solution does not exist, we’ll need to find one."
Source : businessinsider.fr/us, bnnbloomberg.ca
