Packaging helps to improve our products’ shelf life, food safety, and appearance during transport. But we see too much and unnecessary packaging material as a “waste” as it damages the environment as well. For 2025, we have created several goals that will help us to achieve excellent results in this area. We also have made it our goal to package the product only one time during its life cycle. This goal is only feasible if we promote involvement and transparency throughout the entire supply chain.
We are committed to reducing the total weight of primary and secondary packaging used for our products by thirty percent before 2025. 2017 is our benchmark year for measuring the reduction, with updated yearly figures calculated in proportion to the total number of kilos of fruit and vegetables sold.
These starting points will help kickstart the journey to reaching our packaging goals:
By 2025, all packaging we use must be able to be processed by the recycling system and separated by the consumer in one easy step.
All packaging used to hold our products will be fully recyclable for waste processors by 2025. This promise means that the purchaser of the product does not have to take any extra steps to dispose of the packaging properly. The following are points of attention for achieving 100% recyclable packaging:
“If we package a product, then we prefer to use sustainable materials, renewable resources, or recycled materials.”
The main principles of ensuring responsible material usage are as follows:
1. No metals: our packaging no longer contains any metals
The production of metals requires a lot of energy and is therefore very damaging to the environment. The use of metals in our packaging is mainly as a clip on netlon packaging. This combination of materials makes it difficult to recycle. Therefore, by the end of 2022, we want no longer want metals in our packaging.
2. No PVC: our products will no longer be packaged in PVC
PVC packaging carries a high environmental risk, because it contains toxic substances such as chlorine and plasticizers. Burning this material produces the highly toxic dioxin. Although PVC is already on the red list in the Netherlands and for many of our customers, it is still a very commonly used material in other countries. Therefore, we have to be extra alert to eliminate this material.
3. FSC/PEFC Cardboard or Paper: All paper and cardboard packaging ordered in the EU is PEFC or FSC certified and the packaging displays this logo.
Cardboard or paper with an FSC or PEFC certification indicates that the trees used to produce the material originate from a sustainably managed forest. These forests are selectively logged and a new tree is planted for each tree that has been cut. By having the logo on the packaging, we make this explicit.
4. Inventory top 20 packaging: classify on recyclability and improve at least 3 of them.
The 2020 inventory is the basis for classifying these packages according to their recyclability; in other words, can this package be properly recycled in one go by the processor? At least 3 poorly recyclable packages will be improved per company so that they can be recycled well and consumers can easily dispose of the packaging without having to perform many actions.
In addition, in 2021 we will investigate whether we can also save 30% weight in our cardboard boxes by 2025.
