Huhtamaki publishes its first stakeholder report on designing for circularity

Leaders across the food industry answer questions about transitioning to a circular economy, what the role of the consumer is in recycling and others in a new report, "Designing for Circularity," published by Espoo, Finland-based Huhtamaki, a global provider of food packaging solutions. The report includes expert views from industry leaders such as McDonald’s and Stora Enso, as well as from academia, nongovernmental organizations and institutions.

The global food packaging industry is setting targets to make their operations more sustainable, working on designing for circularity across systems and products. However, lasting solutions need cooperation between different contributors.

“While we have seen a significant leap forward in terms of our industry-wide commitment to sustainability we know that to deliver groundbreaking solutions we have to work across the industry and that no single organization holds all the answers,” says Thomasine Kamerling, executive vice president of sustainability and communications at Huhtamaki. “Our circularity report helps to set out on what is needed today to address some of the biggest challenges we face in the creation of true and lasting sustainability, together. We are delighted that so many organizations have taken the opportunity to share their thoughts on what is needed next by contributing directly to the report.

The current economy and its regulations have been designed for linear use of virgin materials – create a product from scratch, use and discard it, the company says. The food packaging industry now calls for new standards to enable the transition to a circular economy.

“We need fact-based regulation that provides a clear and predictable framework and enables a systemic change towards circularity. It should promote the use of renewable resources and must encourage businesses to invest in the next generation of environmental innovation. It should also focus on educating consumers and building collection-recycling infrastructures,” adds Huhtamaki President and CEO Charles Héaulmé.

In addition to Huhtamaki, the report collects views from Stora Enso, McDonald’s, Mars Petcare, Food System 6, WasteAid, The Happy Pear, Closed Loop Partners, The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, a member of European Parliament, an academic at Cambridge University and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland.

“Our circularity report is the first step of Think Circle, an initiative towards open stakeholder discussion for a more sustainable future. We believe in protecting food, people and the planet and making a positive contribution in everything we do. Think Future. Think Circle," Kamerling adds. 

The full report is available here.