Mars Inc., McLean, Virginia, has announced that it will incorporate recycled polypropylene (PP) into the primary packaging for some of its pet food brands. Through its partnership with Huhtamaki, Espoo, Finland, and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mars will use recycled plastic that has been manufactured using a chemical recycling process for its pet food packs. According to a news release from Mars, the new packs will not feel or be different from those made with traditional virgin plastic.
The company says SABIC’s recycling approach used to make its circular PP is one of the only solutions available to take mixed plastics and transform it into plastic suitable for food-grade packaging. The recycled PP is certified under the Institute of Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) scheme that uses a mass balance approach.
Mars reports that it wants to reduce its virgin plastics use across its packaging portfolio. The company has a Sustainable Packaging Plan to use 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025. Using chemical recycling technology will help the company to use 30 percent recycled plastics and to reduce its virgin plastics use by 25 percent, according to the company. Mars says it is piloting using the recycled PP in Europe this year and will increase volumes used in 2021 with ambitions to expand the use of recycled content to other brands.
“Plastic packaging is littering our land and oceans is not acceptable, and at Mars, we’re committed to helping address this problem. To do this, we need to reduce packaging we don’t need, redesign the remaining packaging to become circular and invest to close the loop to help scale up recycling systems,” says Barry Parkin, chief procurement and sustainability officer at Mars. “Through our partnership with Huhtamaki and SABIC, we will test and learn, progressively scale up recycled plastic content in our packs and ultimately help drive circular packaging systems.”
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