The main function of packaging is to provide protection to the product from dirt, insects, dampness and breakage.
This policy concerns the retail packaging for our own brand products. It also concerns logistics packaging and offered to consumers. Our plastics policy describes in more detail the use of plastic in our products and packaging. The logistical chain of a product involves various forms of packaging, including pallets, transport packaging, store packaging and consumer packaging. Appropriate packaging makes product handling easier throughout the supply chain. Commonly used packaging materials include plastics, wood and wood-based cardboard, paperboard and paper, glass. Packaging must protect the product from the environment and the environment from the product. It must provide information on the product and its use and communicate the product brand. Packaging plays an important role in preventing food waste, as the right kind of packaging keeps food items safe and edible for longer.
1. We take environmental issues into account:
Our packaging must be recyclable, compostable or reusable. We prefer renewable packaging materials: cardboard, paperboard, paper and bio-based plastics. In wood-based packaging, we prefer solutions that are of sustainable origin or made from recycled material. We make sure that pests cannot travel between countries by requiring that wooden packaging materials meet the requirements of ISPM 15 (Regulation of wood packaging material in international trade). Our biodegradable plastic packaging must meet the compostability requirements of ISO 13432 (Packaging Recoverable Through Composting & Biodegradation).
2. We reduce the amount of packaging material:
Our packaging design takes into account the overall impact on the environment, minimizing the amount of packaging material used while maintaining the basic functions of packaging and minimizing product waste. We do not over package or use excess layers of packaging as we know our goal is to keep the food items safe and edible for longer and not to forget to protect the environment from the product.
| Objectives | Progress |
| Reducing plastic in packaging | We aim to reduce the amount of plastic in our packaging by 20 % by the end of 2030. |
3. Our packaging is recyclable & reusable:
Our company’s primary concern in regulating food packaging is to ensure that the packaging is safe for its intended food-contact use. We’ve set ambitious targets to reduce the total amount of virgin plastic we use, to ramp up the use of recycled plastic and to only use reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging. We’re also supporting collection and processing infrastructure. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought new challenges in tackling plastic pollution. These include the availability of certain materials, inability to test new materials with our suppliers and in our factories, and closure of sorting and recycling centre’s in some markets. The decreasing price of oil also makes it harder for recycled plastic to compete against lower cost virgin materials too. Yet we remain as committed as ever to shifting to a circular economy for plastics. We’re finding ways to remove plastic entirely from some of our products and packaging. Brand new materials – and a return of familiar ones such as paper, glass or aluminums (provided we're satisfied they don't have a worse environmental footprint than the material they replace) – are options for a plastic-free future. There’s huge scope for innovation – and our brands are already at work.
We offer durable shopping bags to our customers. Reusable packaging can be produced from a wide range of materials. This includes wood, metal, plastic, composites and even foam. Ultimately, the material used is defined by the demands of the application and the properties of the specific material. Whilst this can include consumer packaging the main application is for industrial, closed loop supply chains such as manufacturing. This type of packaging is particularly prevalent in the automotive industry for example. Effectively, reusable or returnable packaging is designed for repeated reuse.