March 15, 2021
Mondelēz has pledged to reduce its use of virgin plastic in rigid plastic packaging by at least 25%, or by 5% in its overall plastic packaging portfolio by 2025. It aims to reach its target by eliminating plastic material, increasing its use of recycled content, and adopting reuse models for its product portfolio.
Mondelez’s new plastic packaging goals expand on the company’s promise to become more eco-friendly in the coming years. Specifically, it’s tackling its use of virgin plastics.
The company is close to hitting its earlier goal to use 5% recycled content by weight in all of its plastic packaging and to design all packaging for recyclability by 2025. According to Mondelez, 94% of its packaging is already designed to be recycled. But targeting its use of new plastic puts it in step with announcements by other large food and beverage manufacturers
The company has also called for a “reasonable” recycling scheme for flexible plastic films and other plastics. Mondelez uses lightweight plastic to lower its environmental footprint but believes that recycling infrastructure improvements are needed for flexible films.
Mondelez invests more than $30 million each year in technology, resources, and recycling infrastructure. Between 2019 and 2025, it expects to spend about $300 million toward plastic sustainability efforts. Although there is no federal framework for the plastics recycling, Mondelez’s efforts could greatly benefit from one.