DS Smith announced that it has removed over 313 million pieces of problem plastics in the last two years as part of its plastic replacement programme.
The figure equates to more than three million units per week, as customers and consumers demonstrate demand for fibre-based packaging as an alternative to hard-to-recycle plastics, DS Smiths says.
DS Smith says its designers have worked with customers to create 1,000s of new innovations to replace plastic. Solutions have been created to remove everyday plastic items including ready-meal trays, plastic fruit and vegetable punnets and plastic six pack rings that pollute the planet.
With our help, customers are accelerating their ambitions to remove problem plastics from their products.
Over the next year, the organisation says it will continue to drive the adoption of fibre-based alternatives amongst customers in response to consumer demand for plastic alternatives.
In a recent survey commissioned by DS Smith, 4 in 10 consumers wanted packaging made from alternative renewable sources, whilst in a separate survey, 52 per cent of Brits said they would purchase products that contain less plastic to help improve recycling rates in the UK.
As part of DS Smith’s Now & Next sustainability targets, the company has the ambition to take one billion pieces of problem plastics off supermarket shelves, replacing them with corrugated alternatives.
Sustainability Business Partner – Sales, Marketing & Innovation, Samantha Upham, said: “With our help, customers are accelerating their ambitions to remove problem plastics from their products. By using our Circular Design Metrics, we can easily show not just where plastic can be replaced, but how circular their packaging is right now and where we can make improvements together.
“All 700 of our designers have been trained in our Circular Design Principles, which means we can design out problem plastics at inception stage and find alternative fibre-based solutions which deliver the required attributes.”