Kraft Heinz announced that by 2025, they want to make their packaging 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable. It’s yet another example of a large multinational corporation addressing the need to reduce their environmental footprint, joining the likes of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. This comes on the heels of Kraft Heinz already exceeding their target of reducing their global packaging by 50,000 metric tons.
As part of this initiative, they hope to make Heinz ketchup bottles, “perfectly circular” by 2022 with packaging recycled into food-grade material for reuse.
By 2020, the company has committed to reducing greenhouse gases, energy consumption, water use and solid waste that goes to landfills all by 15%.
These goals are lofty and will require as of yet scientific breakthroughs, which is why as part of its commitment, Kraft Heinz is already working with Environmental Packaging Initiative and will seek the expertise of other firms and organizations to find ways to reach their goals.
Of course, Kraft Heinz is only part of their business ecosystem, and in order to reduce their overall environmental impact, it will have to see their partners, suppliers and other business partners do their part as well. Bernardo Hees, CEO of Kraft Heinz says, “We found that most of our emissions are coming from areas outside our direct operations. To truly succeed as champions of sustainability, we will look at our full value chain and determine where we can make the greatest impact for our planet.”
That may perhaps be the biggest challenge to any environmental goal: it will take an effort from all of us, at every level. Whether it’s individuals going single-use plastic free, retailers offering products in bulk, farmers reducing water consumption, or large companies like Kraft Heinz reducing their packaging use, we’ll all have to do our part to ensure the environment remains intact for future generations to come.
