Chicago-based multinational food company Mondelēz International has announced that it is planning to use plastic made from advanced recycling technology in packaging for most of its Triscuit whole grain wheat crackers in the United States and Canada, Food Business News reported.
The switch will affect the plastic bag that contains the Triscuit crackers inside their cardboard box. That bag will now be made of "up to 50%" recycled plastic sourced from International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC)-approved suppliers, which use chemical or molecular recycling processes.
Mondelēz has partnered with circular packaging specialist Berry Global Group Inc. and sustainable chemicals firm LyondellBasell to supply them with the recycled plastics for the initiative. Both groups are ISCC PLUS-certified.
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The move will divert more than one million pounds of plastic waste from landfills per year, the company said.
"We believe that sourcing material linked to advanced recycling technologies (mass balance) helps send a signal to the broader industry and can help to drive collection, sortation and processing of more plastic waste," Lou Fenech, research fellow for packaging sustainability at Mondelēz International, said.
Mondelēz International, like other multinational food companies, is among the biggest plastic polluters in the world. Break Free From Plastic's 2022 annual audit named the company as the second worst plastic polluter on the planet, trailing only Coca-Cola and ahead of even such polluting luminaries as PepsiCo and Nestle.
As plastic pollution has become a huge and growing problem for our planet — filling landfills, killing marine life, and using up polluting, non-renewable petroleum — it is well past time for companies like Mondelēz to begin taking responsibility for their output. Hopefully, using up to 50% recycled plastic for the inner bag in whole wheat Triscuit packaging is only the first of many steps the company will take to reform its harmful practices.
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