Goal: 100% sustainable packaging materials by 2030

Why it’s important

Packaging plays a hugely influential role in achieving our sustainability ambition because the materials we choose to work with have an impact on our business from beginning to end. The packaging materials and supplier partnerships we select will determine the direction our business is taking for the future. We have a goal to use 100% sustainable packaging materials by 2030. This means using recycled content and/or renewable materials in our packaging.

Taking responsibility for the impact of packaging materials before they arrive on site means knowing what your materials are made of, who has made them, and where they have sourced their raw materials. A focus on recycled content also promotes a circular approach to packaging. We want to be a business that demonstrates corporate responsibility in both ambition and action, because sustainable packaging is about more than simply recycling a product. We want to take ownership of our processes and work with like-minded suppliers to ensure that our packaging has a sustainable life cycle.

What we’re doing

We’re focussing on reducing the amount of packaging we use and have implemented a range of initiatives to achieve this. In New Zealand we have reduced our virgin HDPE use by 80 tonnes a year by adjusting our milk bottles and caps. A decade of innovation has reduced the amount of plastic used in our bread bags by 25%. In Australia, we used over 4,000 tonnes of recycled content for our packaging in 2020 including transitioning our La Famiglia garlic bread trays from PVC to a blend of PET and recycled PET.

How we're going to do it

The most sustainable packaging materials are those that are never used so we will continue our efforts to optimise the amount of material in our packaging. In Australia and New Zealand, we have a target to use an average of 50% recycled content in our packaging by 2025. Our action plans to achieve this target will open up the innovation and supplier relationships needed to achieve our 2030 goal. Recycled content is a mandatory specification in a growing list of eligible packaging tenders. We want to work alongside partners who share our values and sustainability targets, and are also invested in the broader industry transformation required.