Coalition Urges Kraft Foods to Reduce Packaged Waste

A coalition of more than 20 public interest groups, sent a letter pressuring Kraft Foods to reduce its packaging waste.

The group, calling themselves the Make It, Take It campaign, has asked Kraft to develop plans to design packaging from safe, sustainable materials using recycled content, while minimizing unnecessary packaging. The group also wants Kraft to design reuseable, recyclable or compostable packaging, support sustainable packaging policies and help mitigate packaging, particularly those made from plastic, that ends up in the environment.

In May, the group targeted Kraft’s Capri Sun pouches as an example of a packaging that can’t be reused or recycled. Kraft does work with Terracycle to collect pouches for repurposing. The Make It, Take It campaign says the program recovers just 1 or 2 percent of all pouches sold, and doesn’t represent a total solution for Capri Sun pouch recovery.

Kraft has used its lifecycle analysis system to cut packaging in its products. In 2012, the company cut the amount of plastic packaging in its YES Pack salad dressing by 60 percent. Kraft’s LCA centers around its Eco-Calculator, a proprietary tool that figures the percentage of post-consumer recycled material in a given package design, along with the amount of energy and carbon dioxide emissions required to create the package.

In the UK, Kraft’s Kenco coffee used this LCA to save reduce its Eco-Refill packaging’s carbon footprint by 70 percent, compared to its glass counterpart.