Confectioner Perfetti Van Melle is the latest manufacturer to sign up to the UK Plastics Pact, joining the likes of General Mills and Unilever in the common goal of transforming the plastics economy and tackling plastic pollution through the UK.
Underpinned by government policy and citizen action, The Pact unites governments, local authorities, NGOs and businesses involved in producing, selling, collecting and reprocessing plastic, to deliver ambitious targets for change by 2025.
The Pact’s key aims include eliminating problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic, making 100% of plastics packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable, as well as ensuring 70% of plastics packaging is effectively recycled or composted and 30% average content is recycled across all plastic packaging by 2025. Last year, the UK Plastics Pact saw a positive 84% reduction in problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics since 2018 and noted that recycled content levels have risen from 8.5% in 2018 to 22% in 2021. The UK Plastics Pact Annual Report, 2021-2022
Hayley Osborne, communications and sustainability manager at Perfetti Van Melle said: “Tackling plastic waste requires concerted global and national level action. Perfetti Van Melle has already taken meaningful measures to reduce plastics in its packaging and eliminating plastic packaging entirely, where possible.
“Most recently, we launched an industry-first Paperboard bottle for Mentos Pure Fresh Gum, an innovation which reduced the plastic in this packaging by 93% in one fell swoop. We also replaced the plastic sticks in our world-renowned Chupa Chups lollies with paper sticks in H2 2022, a step which will eliminate around 5k metric tons p.a. of plastic globally over the next three years.
“Our membership of The UK Plastics Pact complements the planned program of goals outlined in our own Reduce, Recycle, Recover, initiative, and will ensure we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards and benchmarks in pursuit of a more sustainable future.”
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