Environmental Leader

Kraft Foods has achieved its goal of reducing 150 million pounds of material from its supply chain two years ahead of schedule.

Kraft is using a new tool to help it design packaging more efficiently, said Jean Spence, Executive Vice President, Research, Development & Quality, in a press release.

The Packaging Eco-Calculator is used early in a product’s design phase, and that has helped with a number of new products.

For instance, the Oscar Meyer Deli Creations package now uses 30 percent less paperboard, helping keep 1.2 million pounds of packaging out of landfills a year.

In Europe, removing packaging layers for Milka chocolate bars reduced weight of shipping cases by 60 percent, eliminating 5.7 million pounds of packaging.

In addition to design, Kraft is putting an emphasis on choice of packaging materials.

For instance, in the UK, Kraft is selling refillable Kenco coffee bags in addition to the traditional glass jars.

In North America, packaging for coffee brands Maxwell House, Yuban and Nabob has gone from steel cans to composite paperboard, with a corresponding 30 percent reduction in weight.

Kraft is also working to improve the recycling rate in the U.S. by working with RecycleBank and TerraCycle.

In Australia, Kraft salad dressing bottles were redesigned, helping eliminate 100,000 pounds of plastic a year.

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