Chociaż tworzywa sztuczne zajmują ważne miejsce w bezpiecznej i wydajnej dystrybucji produktów, to Unilever chciał znaleźć bardziej przyjazne dla środowiska podejście do opakowań dla swojej znanej na całym świecie marki lodów Magnum. Unilever od dawna bierze odpowiedzialność zarówno za podjęcie wyzwania, jakim jest utrzymanie odpadów tworzyw sztucznych poza środowiskiem, jak i za przewodniczenie branży spożywczej na drodze do bardziej zrównoważonej przyszłości.
Klienci słusznie oczekują, że wszystkie opakowania, łącznie z wiodącymi na rynku lodami, będą solidne, ale też zgodne z zasadami zrównoważonego rozwoju. Ponieważ w związku z pandemią coraz więcej osób zaczęło spożywać lody w domu, potrzeba znalezienia rozwiązania tego problemu stała się tym bardziej istotna.
Innowacje na rzecz cyrkularnych tworzyw sztucznych
With a global packaging commitment already in place to reduce the amount of virgin plastic in use, Magnum has stated that all its packaging will soon be fully reusable, recyclable or compostable and made with post-consumer recycled material to drive the circular economy approach. However, while recycled polypropylene (rPP) options were already available for beauty and personal care products, none were approved for food-grade packaging use. In addition, it was not possible to produce food-grade recycled polypropylene plastic with any other recycling system.
That’s why Unilever decided to work closely with SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, to develop a pioneering new recycling process to transform post-consumer mixed plastic waste, which would otherwise have ended up in landfill or an incinerator, into a resin with the same characteristics as virgin food-grade resin. The new material is a certified circular polypropylene, that uses feedstock from recycling mixed, used plastic.
Mark Vester, Circular Economy Leader at SABIC, added, “Magnum tubs display a great collaborative effort between Unilever and SABIC, a true collaboration and innovation which drives positive change towards closing the loop on valuable, used plastics.”
Sustainability in numbers
The rPP tubs, the world’s first within the ice cream industry, were successfully piloted in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2019, before being rolled out across all European countries in 2020. By the end of that year, all Magnum pint tubs in Europe were produced from the new material, equating to more than 160,000 kilograms of recycled plastic. The rollout has continued across the globe during 2021, making a significant contribution to Unilever’s broader commitment to halve its use of virgin plastic by more than 100,000 tonnes and accelerate its use of recycled plastic by 2025. Unilever’s goal is that, by this date, all Magnum tubs will be made with recycled materials.
We are proud to be the world’s first ice cream brand to pioneer this ground-breaking technology. Through this new approach, we hope to lead the food and refreshment industry towards a more sustainable future, paving the way to a circular economy.
Julien Barraux – Global Magnum Vice President