Along with other FMCG companies, including General Mills and Unilever, Perfetti Van Melle says it will unite in the common goal of transforming the plastics economy and tackling plastic pollution through the UK.
By bringing together the entire plastics value chain behind a common set of ambitious targets, it will move towards a system that keeps plastic in the economy and out of the environment.
Underpinned by government policy and citizen action, the Pact unites governments, local authorities, NGOs, and businesses involved in producing, selling, collecting and reprocessing plastic, to deliver ambitious targets for change by 2025.
Hayley Osborne, Communications and Sustainability Manager at Perfetti Van Melle, said: “Tackling plastic waste requires concerted global and national level action. Perfetti Van Melle has already taken meaningful measures to reduce plastics in its packaging and eliminating plastic packaging entirely, where possible.
“Most recently, we launched an industry-first Paperboard bottle for Mentos Pure Fresh Gum, an innovation which reduced the plastic in this packaging by 93% in one fell swoop. We also replaced the plastic sticks in our world-renowned Chupa Chups lollies with paper sticks in H2 2022, a step that will eliminate around 5k metric tons p.a. of plastic globally over the next three years.”
The Pact’s key aims include eliminating problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic, making 100% of plastics packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable, as well as ensuring 70% of plastics packaging is effectively recycled or composted and 30% average content is recycled across all plastic packaging by 2025 . Last year, the UK Plastics Pact saw a positive 84% reduction in problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics since 2018 and noted that recycled content levels have risen from 8.5% in 2018 to 22% in 2021.
“Our membership of the UK Plastics Pact complements the planned programme of goals outlined in our own Reduce, Recycle, Recover, initiative, and will ensure we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards and benchmarks in pursuit of a more sustainable future,” Osborne added.
