Making perishable foods safe and available

Food packaging plays an important role in enhancing food systems resilience by protecting products, extending their shelf life, and helping reduce food waste from production to distribution and retail. This cannot be at the expense of the climate impact of food packaging, nor its circularity.

We are committed to increasing access to safe nutrition1 around the world through aseptic food processing and packaging solutions2 that enable long shelf life and preserve the quality and safety of perishable foods without the need for added preservatives or refrigeration.

Due to their high share of renewable materials (on average 70% paperboard), aseptic paper-based cartons score better on environmental performance compared to other packaging options for perishable liquid foods such as PET bottles and glass3. They are designed for recycling and are recyclable where collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure is in place, at scale.

Our targets towards 2030

We have set measurable targets tied to our pathways, that iterate our role in food systems transformation to accelerate change.

How scaling access to safe nutrition can contribute to more secure food systems?

We have collaborated with EY-Parthenon on a a series of white papers that explore the opportunities, key enablers and critical success factors for a preferred future by 2040, and outline global focus areas and collective actions to accelerate the transition.

Actions & solutions

Man drinking green juice

Improving food access with aseptic technology

Aseptic processing and packaging remove the need for cold chain distribution, keeping perishable foods safe and flavourful for six to twelve months without need for refrigeration or preservatives, while also retaining their colour, texture, taste and nutrition. Today, our aseptic paper-based carton packages help deliver safe food to consumers in more than 160 countries.

Transparent package, forest background

Low carbon impact

Aseptic carton packages are primarily paper-based, a renewable resource which we source responsibly. This helps beverage cartons feature a lower carbon footprint than other packaging solutions, with only 83 g CO2 equivalents per litre (eq/l) compared to 430 g CO2 eq/l for single-use glass bottles, 156 CO2 eq/l for PET bottles and 100 g CO2 eq/l for reusable glass bottles.

Illustration carton package recycling

Strengthening recycling infrastructure for cartons

Paper-based carton packages are already recyclable where adequate collection, sorting and recycling infrastructures are in place, at scale. We are working to support circularity4 of carton packages through investments and collaborations to increase recycling capacity and infrastructure, as well as investing in the design of carton packages to increase fibre content and the use of recycled materials.

Explore more pathways

Artistic illustration man with straw hat

Enabling transition towards more sustainable dairy5

We are collaborating with the global dairy community to address its environmental challenges by reducing GHG emissions across the dairy supply chain.

Artistic illustration woman and people in various situations

Innovating for new food sources6

Together with innovative startups, academia and food industry players, we are leveraging cutting-edge techniques and technologies to explore and bring to market new food sources.

Artistic illustration man and people in various situations

Reducing food loss and waste

We develop high-performance food processing solutions to minimise food loss and create food packaging solutions that enables a long shelf life and help reduce food waste.

Further reading

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References

1 Definition: Nutritional profile of packaged food assessed according to Health Star Rating system Health Star Rating

Sustainable food packaging is defined as a packaging that achieves its functional requirements with minimal environmental impact, that is made from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, is recyclable, and has low carbon footprint in regards to manufacturing, production, shipping, and recycling.

83 g CO2 equivalents per litre (eq/l) compared to 430 g CO2 eq/l for single-use glass bottles, 156 CO2 eq/l for PET bottles and 100 g CO2 eq/l for reusable glass bottles. https://www.beveragecarton.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ACE-Circular_Analytics_ACE_report.pdf

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2022). Circular Economy Introduction. Source: Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org, What is a circular economy? | Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Definition: Sustainable dairy is defined as a dairy industry that emits less greenhouse emissions by introducing technologies, equipment and best practices in production and processing to safeguard nutrition security and sustain a billion livelihoods for tomorrow, while helping secure a future for us all. Read more at Global Dairy platform

New food sources is a term broadly referring to any food ingredient that lacks an established history of human consumption, or ingredients made from innovative new processes. Also referred to as “novel foods”. Precise legal definitions vary from region to region.