World leading kiwi fruit marketer Zespri, has announced it will make all its packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
Further commitments from Zespri include ensuring its plastic packaging will be made from at least 30% recycled plastic by 2025, along with reducing its packaging footprint by 25% per kilogram of fruit produced by 2030.
These announcements are based on the company’s values of “optimising natural resources and fostering health and well-being” says Zespri’s chief innovation and sustainability officer Carol Ward.
“Today’s consumers care about what their food is wrapped in, want to know more about where it comes from and are seeking reassurance that it’s been grown in a way that enhances the environment and supports livelihoods.
“We already have much to be proud of including having 95% of our packaging used to transport our kiwifruit to market as cardboard, but we realise there’s more to do.
“The ambitious targets we’ve outlined today are therefore about driving our next stage of development and aligning with our purpose, our brand promise and our premium product position.”
Ms Ward says a dedicated programme has been established to focus on sustainable packaging and will build on other packaging changes Zespri has already made.
These changes include reducing the weight of liners used in cardboard transport packs, trialling fibre-based solutions for pocket-packs, implementing improved recycling options, and eliminating all unnecessary packaging.
Last year Zespri signed up, along with other major brands, to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment which works with industry partners to create a circular economy for plastic.
Outside of packaging, the company has also revealed a number of other sustainability commitments, including being carbon positive by 2035, monitoring nutrient inputs and losses as well as its impact on water, disclosing its climate risks and opportunities by August 21 and developing an industry wide climate change adaptation plan by December 2022.
