Mars, Incorporated will incorporate recycled polypropylene into the primary packaging for some of its popular pet food brands.
For Mars, this marks an important step in its efforts to reduce virgin plastics use across its packaging portfolio.
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, SABIC and Huhtamaki collaboration introduces recycled content into pet food packaging
Through its partnership with global packaging supplier Huhtamaki and petrochemical leader SABIC, Mars will use recycled plastic which has been manufactured using an advanced recycling process for its pet food packs.
The recycling approach used by SABIC to make its certified circular polypropylene is one of the only solutions currently available that is able to take mixed, used plastic that is otherwise hard to recycle via traditional recycling routes, and to transform them back into plastic packaging. Mars is piloting this in Europe in 2020 and will increase volumes used into 2021, with ambitions to expand the use of recycled content to other brands.
Barry Parkin, Chief Procurement and Sustainability Officer at Mars, Incorporated, said: “Through our partnership with Huhtamaki and SABIC, we will test-and-learn, progressively scale up recycled plastic content in our packs, and ultimately help drive circular packaging systems.”
The partnership comes as part of Mars’ Sustainable Packaging Plan and ambitions to use reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
Charles Héaulmé, President and CEO of Huhtamaki, added: “We are fully committed to playing our part in building a circular economy across the value chain and partnering with others to do so. Our strategic partnership with Mars and SABIC is a great example of how collaboration can result in breakthroughs that deliver significant progress.”
Mark Vester, Global Circular Economy Leader at SABIC, added: “We are proud to show how this collaboration with Mars and Huhtamaki reflects our trust and willingness for innovation and a shared constructive and pioneering spirit. At SABIC we are committed to developing new solutions to meet our customers’ demands for increasingly sustainable solutions.”