British American Tobacco to make “all plastic packaging recyclable”

British American Tobacco (BAT) says it will “eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic” and make “all plastic packaging recyclable” by 2025.

BAT has published its new sustainability report, which announced new targets across the environmental, social and governance landscape.

Among those is the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 and accelerating its existing environmental targets by 2025.

It says it will also eliminate “unnecessary” single-use plastic and making all plastic packaging recyclable by 2025.

The Group’s new Sustainability Agenda supports the company purpose to deliver A Better Tomorrow with a principal focus on “harm reduction”.

I am proud that we have a strategy with sustainability embedded at its heart and I firmly believe it will lead to ‘A Better Tomorrow’ for our consumers, our employees, our shareholders and, undoubtedly, for society

Jack Bowles, Chief Executive of British American Tobacco, said: “Today we are transitioning from being a business where sustainability has always been important to one where it is front and centre in all that we do.

“Over the last 20 years, we’ve made significant progress on our sustainability journey. Yet our approach needs to constantly develop, much as the world around us is evolving – from increasing expectations of the role of business in contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change; to evolving consumer preferences and the emergence of new category products, such as vapour products (e-cigarettes), tobacco heating and modern oral products, that offer potentially reduced risks for the many millions of people across the world who continue to smoke cigarettes.

“I am proud that we have a strategy with sustainability embedded at its heart and I firmly believe it will lead to ‘A Better Tomorrow’ for our consumers, our employees, our shareholders and, undoubtedly, for society.”

Other environmental management highlights of the report include:

• 5% reduction in direct CO₂e from 2017 baseline and aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030
• 1% reduction in water withdrawals from 2017 baseline and aiming to reduce by 35% by 2025
• 1,000 tonnes of CO₂equivalent saved annually by removing silicon caps from Vype e-liquid pods
• 99% of wood fuel used by contracted farmers for curing was from sustainable sources in 2019