Mondelez signs up to UK Plastics Pact and Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment

Currently

Mondelēz International has announced that it has joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and has become a member of the UK Plastics Pact.

The Foundation’s Global Commitment aims to create a “new normal” for plastic packaging by eliminating single-use packaging materials, increasing the amount of reused or recycled plastics in new products and innovate to ensure 100% of plastic packaging can be reused, recycled, or composted by 2025.

As part of the Global Commitment, Mondelēz International will work to eliminate unnecessary single-use packaging by 2025, make 100% of its plastics packaging reusable or recycle, use 5% recycled content by weight across all plastic packaging and promote reuse models where relevant. By signing up to the scheme, the firm joined more than 250 other organisations in targeting plastics.

The UK Plastics Pact commits signatories to four main targets for 2025: eliminating unnecessary single-use packaging through redesign; making all plastic packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable; achieving recycling and composting rates of 70% or more for packaging, and including 30% recycled content across all packaging.

The 127+ members of the pact are set to distribute one billion fewer pieces of “problematic” and unnecessary single-use plastic in 2020 than they did in 2018.

“We believe that sector-wide initiatives, in collaboration with government, are key to reducing the impact of packaging on our planet” Mondelēz International’s vice president of sustainability and global impact Christine Montenegro McGrath said.

“Through our partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and in joining The UK Plastics Pact, we are accelerating our work toward creating zero net waste packaging and improving recycling globally, and we are fully committed to their vision.”

Mondelēz International already has 2025 targets in place to ensure all packaging is designed to be recycled and that they contain on-pack recycling information. Currently, 93% of the company’s packaging, both plastic and non-plastic, meets the recycled criteria.

The company will also use its presence in both commitments to call for and participate in sector-wide collaboration to scale-up innovative solutions to packaging and harmonise material use and waste management collection.

“The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment unites businesses, governments and others behind a clear vision of a circular economy for plastic. We are pleased Mondelēz International is joining us as a New Plastics Economy Participant and Global Commitment signatory, by setting concrete 2025 targets,” the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s lead for the New Plastics Economy Sander Defruyt said.

“Our vision is for a world where plastic never becomes waste or pollution. It will be a challenging journey, but by coming together we can eliminate the plastics we don’t need and innovate, so the plastics we do need can be safely and easily circulated – keeping them in the economy and out of the environment.”

“We are delighted to have Mondelēz International sign up to The UK Plastics Pact. Through our first-of-a-kind Pact we are working together with governments, citizens and business to transform the way we make, use and dispose of plastic so that we retain its value, but prevent it from polluting the environment,” WRAP’s chief executive Marcus Gover said. WRAP is the organisation leading on the UK Plastics Pact.

The company isn’t solely focused on plastics when it comes to sustainability. Last year, Mondelez International re-affirmed its commitment to source 100% of its cocoa by 2025 from its Cocoa Life sustainability programme following early promising results.

The scheme, which aims to create a better supply chain for cocoa by increasing yields, building resilience, and preventing deforestation, currently produces 43% of the company’s cocoa. But now the firm plans to add Toblerone and Lacta alongside other brands to Milka, Cote d’Or and Cadbury Dairy Milk in sourcing exclusively through the programme.

This expansion will see an increase in the number of farmers and communities it supports across six cocoa origin countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, India and Brazil.

Matt Mace

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe