A snack giant has partnered with a packaging company to create a paper package that marks one more sustainable solution in the industry's long line of them.
Mondelez International and Saica Group joined forces to manufacture a paper-based bag that can be used on and sealed by machine-packing lines, Packaging Strategies reported. It was part of the former company's goal to make 98% of its packaging recyclable by 2025.
The packaging will be used for multipacks of candy, cookies, and chocolates. Some of the brands under the Mondelez umbrella are Oreo, Clif Bar, Cadbury, and Toblerone.
Saica Group and @MDLZ have joined forces to launch a new paper-based product targeting multipack products for the confectionery, biscuits and chocolate markets, designed to be recyclable in the paper waste streamhttps://t.co/zg1aGyOIbn
— Packaging Europe (@PackagingEurope) June 24, 2024
The outlet highlighted that Saica is working to help reinstate a circular economy, focusing on resource efficiency, circularity of materials, climate neutrality, and zero littering. In addition to creating a fully recyclable "flexible packaging portfolio" by next year, it plans for paper to account for 15% of its packaging weight and cut the weight of plastics used by 20%.
"We believe that packaging sustainability is a very serious challenge that required our full commitment and far-reaching collaborations with companies equally committed, like Mondelez," Saica Flex general manager Miguel Angel Dora said, per Packaging Strategies.
Aldi has made similar commitments, swapping out plastic banana packaging for paper bands on a trial basis in some of its stores in England and eliminating the use of plastic or finding recyclable packaging solutions with other products. The grocery chain has also stopped using plastic bags — a first in the United States — and promoted transparency about its cocoa supply chain, a remarkable step.
These kinds of changes will need to be made to reduce the overheating of our planet, which is caused by the burning of gas, oil, and coal, all sources of dirty energy. Gas and oil are also the building blocks of plastic, and the manufacturing process produces pollution that envelops Earth like a blanket and results in the intensification and proliferation of extreme weather events.
This new packaging can be recycled as paper, according to Packaging Strategies, and meets Confederation of European Paper sustainability standards. It can also withstand "the heat sealable packing process, with the option to be produced coated or uncoated depending on the desired final appearance," though coated paper products are not recyclable in many communities and require more processing where they are.
To help reduce demand for plastic, you can stop buying single-use water bottles and make other plastic-free choices in your everyday routine.
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