USA – American retail chain Kroger has claimed that its recycling program has achieved its milestone of recycling more than one million pieces of its Our Brands flexible plastic product packaging.
Kroger achieved the milestone in the third year of the recycling program, which was launched in collaboration with waste management firm TerraCycle in August 2020.
The packaging recycling program for the retailer’s Our Brands products, offers free, prepaid shipping labels to customers to ship their flexible plastic Our Brands packaging to TerraCycle for recycling.
The recycled materials generated through this program are used for the construction of playgrounds that are donated by Kroger to youth and community organizations.
Kroger Our Brands vice president Juan De Paoli said: “We are continually looking for creative and innovative solutions to support our vision of creating zero-waste communities.
“Our customers sharing in that commitment by recycling packaging and purchasing products made with upcycled ingredients, alongside our efforts to advance sustainability, makes important progress toward eliminating waste and creating healthy, thriving communities.”
Additionally, the American retail company announced it is offering customers more items with upcycled ingredients by adding two new Simple Truth products.
Simple Truth is Kroger’s line to create more affordable grocery items that are organic, free form and natural.
The retailer has added Seeded Multigrain Bread and Multigrain Quinoa Bread to the Simple Truth sustainable lineup, both Upcycled Certified by the Upcycled Food Association (UFA). Kroger joined the UFA in 2022.
The UFA is a “first of its kind” trade association working to prevent food waste by accelerating the upcycled food economy.
It comprises a network of more than 225 businesses worldwide, collaborating to empower consumers to counteract food waste with the products they purchase.
In the grocer’s recent Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, which was released in September 2022, it stated that 40% of its private label packaging was recyclable, compostable or reusable as of 2021.
Building off of this, Kroger has a goal to achieve that for all of its own brand packagings by 2030, per the ESG report.
As sustainability efforts continue to gain steam in the grocery industry, packaging is one area where progress is being made.
Southeastern Grocers recently debuted a sustainable ice packing and manufacturing solution just months after announcing goals to make its own brand packaging more sustainable.
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