UK food supplier Cranswick plc has vowed a “significant drive” to reduce plastic waste within the UK starting with their own pledge that all packaging used by the food group will be 100% recyclable and sustainably sourced and in addition, to also reduce their plastic use by 50% by 2025.
Cranswick has launched a call to action with an invitation to their food peers, not just their key customers and suppliers, to collaborate with them as a “joined-up industry” to take responsibility for the environmental impact of plastics as a matter of urgency.
Cranswick says a key step is to lobby the Government to look at the full life cycle of products and not simply collecting materials for recycling, but getting waste packaging back in the system to replace virgin materials for manufacturing new products.
“While we commend the Government for putting this issue on the political agenda through the new 25 Year Environmental Plan, we believe as a major UK manufacturer we have a responsibility to help drive systemic change to end global plastic pollution”
Adam Couch, CEO of Cranswick plc, said: “The environmental impact of plastics, with regards to the damage they cause to the world’s oceans and landfill, has become a major global issue and one that we seek to address as a matter of urgency.
“While we commend the Government for putting this issue on the political agenda through the new 25 Year Environmental Plan, we believe as a major UK manufacturer we have a responsibility to help drive systemic change to end global plastic pollution.
“More importantly, nor do we need to wait that long (2042) to achieve our goals. Ensuring a sustainable future for our planet should be a priority for every retailer, manufacturer, local authority and individual globally – and it is our collective responsibility to ensure there is the opportunity to be able to reduce, re- use and recycle as much as is possible to minimise the impact on our environment.”
It is Cranswick’s commitment that by 2025 it will:
- REDUCE – the weight of their plastic packaging from farm to fork by 50%.
- RE-USE – all of their internal materials in a closed loop system across their business
- RECYCLE – ensure that all packaging they use is not only 100% recyclable but easily recyclable supporting circular waste solutions
Jim Brisby, Group Commercial Director at Cranswick plc said: “Our consumers are constantly demanding convenient food solutions, and the packaging solutions currently available can make the problem worse. Much of this packaging is not easily recyclable and we have a responsibility to address this issue”.
He continued: “The results of an internal sustainability review in 2017 illustrated how important waste and recycling is to our staff and stakeholders. This strategy will now form a major part of Cranswick’s new group sustainability initiative ‘Second Nature’, which seeks to address key issues from farm to fork. Our ambition is to lead sustainability across agriculture and food production on a global scale by integrating sustainability as second nature to what we do, how we work, and why we do it.”
To deliver its 2025 commitments, Cranswick pledge that:
- All packaging used by their food group will be 100% recyclable and sustainably sourced
- Where dual materials are required to maintain product quality and minimise food waste, these will only be from materials that are also 100% recyclable and sustainably sourced
- All packaging will be designed to be intuitively recycled by the consumer and easily recovered through household recycling collections
- They will be forming a new industry stakeholder group to openly collaborate on developing circularity in the UK to ensure we have a workable closed-loop system. This is not simply about collecting materials for recycling but using waste packaging to replace virgin materials for manufacturing our new products
- They will test new initiatives to help drive positive consumer behaviour around recycling food packaging to make this as simple as possible and publically share their findings
Cranswick plc is a British supplier of food products with annual revenues in excess of £1.2bn.
The announcement comes as as Theresa May last unveiled the UK Government’s 25-Year Environment Plan, which vows to eliminate “avoidable plastic waste” by 2042.
