Fonterra Oz eyes green packaging

The co-operative has 26 sustainable packaging projects underway in Australia and has invested significantly in this area. As well as creating greater opportunities for recycling, Fonterra Australia is also focused on ways to make packaging more sustainable.

This includes removing the cardboard sleeve from its Mainland On The Go Lunch snacking range, which has reduced the need for 47 tonnes of paperboard per annum.

Fonterra Australia's sustainability packaging manager, Jenny Phillips says the co-op has set itself a significant challenge in the sustainable packaging space.

"And we are making good progress on our goal," says Phillips.

"We have also changed to a recyclable PET tray and increased the shipping efficiency of the product to reduce corrugated carton board by another 10 tonnes per annum. All up, this has resulted in significant financial savings for the busines, as well as demonstrable environmental improvements. It's a win-win," she says.

Fonterra Australia is committed to supporting a new pat for soft plastic packaging and is a foundation supporter of the National Plastics Recycling Scheme (NPRS).

The NPRS soft plastics project is being developed by Australia's food and grocery manufacturing industry, with funding support from the federal government.

The aim is to enable people to recycle soft plastics at home and create a new advanced recycling industry in Australia that can turn used soft plastics back into new food-grade packaging.

Phillips says there are strong benefits in using plastic packaging, as it plays an important role in keeping food safe and reducing waste, which also has a considerable environmental impact.

"However, the move to more sustainable packaging is an important step in creating a circular economy where packaging can be recovered, reused, recycled and reprocessed back into a food-grade solution," she says.