Sustainability Science

Digital technology has made it commercially possible for companies to offer an alternative, more sustainable, and deposit-free recyclable packaging system for take-out food. Suppliers rent their packages to restaurants and end users simply pick up their desired take-out and then return the packaging within a specified period free of charge. The restaurant cleans the used packaging and then reuses it. This article explores how one of the pioneers of this new approach, the German company Vytal, makes the new system work and offer five lessons from its experience.

Traditional food packaging and delivery faces a serious sustainability problem. Consumer beverage packaging accounts for between up to 48% in urban solid waste and up to 26% of marine garbage, and the ineffectiveness of traditional recycling and reuse schemes via cash deposits that lead to perceived higher prices, are cumbersome to handle for food providers, and do not incentivize customers to return containers quickly or at all.

Yet another impact of the  COVID-19 pandemic has been revealed.  Consumers now have an elevated ' focus on sustainability and willingness to pay out of their own pockets – or even take a pay cut – for a sustainable future, according to a new IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) survey of over 14,000 consumers in nine countries.

About 15 years ago, Finnish energy company Neste decided to change its course. Since 1948, Neste was in the oil business, but the health of the planet and future generations began to weigh on the company’s leadership. 

With much of the world still viewing climate change as an inconvenient truth, Neste’s executive committee and board of directors decided to embark on an ambitious transformation from fossil fuels to renewables. Now, Neste is a global leader in renewable fuels and the third most sustainable company in the world, according to Corporate Knights.

The tequila company Buen Vato has invested in sustainable manufacturing processes in order to produce a cardboard bottle. Stockholm-based distributor Alias Smith says the bottle is lighter to transport and offers major CO2 reduction in comparison to traditional industry methods.

Driscoll’s leads the produce industry in increasing the circularity of packaging and landfill diversion of agricultural plastics. It’s the first berry company to make public commitments and inject serious funding into innovation — with a goal to create economies of scale.

Quantis is launching geoFootprint, a digital tool that the company describes as the ‘first’ to use satellite technology to map the environmental impact of food production on an interactive map. The innovation holds the key to ‘smarter, science-driven decision making’, the sustainable consultancy believes.

Mars teams up with Huhtamaki to use recycled plastic for pet food
Confectionery giant Mars has announced plans to use recycled polypropylene plastic into the primary packaging for some of its popular pet food brands.