Yet the waste generated from plastic packaging has serious negative implications for marine ecosystems, wildlife, climate change, and the quality of air, water and soil. Beyond packaging, a full third of all food is wasted and lost along the value chain, carrying the compound impact of all the wasted energy, water and nutrition embodied within this food, as well as the carbon emissions released during its production and decomposition in landfills.

Reducing packaging, and reducing food waste and loss, offer the dual benefit of supporting improved cost-efficiency and environmental performance, with social benefits a key potential in the diversion of food waste to those who need it most. The financial benefits of recycling are becoming more significant, and the diversion of waste from landfill reduces disposal costs, and offers potential income-generating opportunities through waste valorisation.

Approach

Our approach is informed by compliance requirements and participation in industry waste management initiatives through the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA). Key legislative instruments that apply to our waste management activities include the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations, waste classification regulations, waste storage standards and local refuse removal by-laws. Through the CGCSA, we have committed to the South African Plastics Pact and Food Waste and Loss Voluntary Agreement.

As a signatory to the SA Plastics Pact, we have committed to a set of industry-approved 2025 targets for reducing plastic packaging, increasing recycling and the use of recycled content materials. Through the Food Loss and Waste Voluntary Agreement, we have committed to reducing food waste in alignment with SDG 12.3 – to halve per capita global food waste by 2030. We also set annual targets to guide year-on-year improvement towards these longer-term goals. Our annual waste minimisation target for 2022 was to achieve a 20% reduction in waste to landfill, which we have achieved. We do not have annual targets in place for food waste or plastic packaging, but have set a baseline this year to help us develop food waste reduction targets from next year onwards.

Management

Our current focus is on waste minimisation, and we see this as a springboard for future initiatives that may capture waste-streams and by-products as inputs for innovative new processes or products. Our key initiatives focus on reducing waste-to-landfill, recycling packaging material, reducing food waste and loss and diverting food waste and loss towards new value creation opportunities. We take an inclusive approach to these initiatives, looking to create jobs and support micro-enterprises through the process. A consistent part of our food-waste minimisation strategy is to make regular donations of near-expiry food to vulnerable communities through our partner Food Forward SA.

We outsource all waste management at our sites to external service providers, who sign service-level agreements that contain specific conditions relating to the achievement of our waste management targets, including for plastic recycling, diversion of waste from landfill, and off-take of food waste for animal feed. A key challenge this year has been finding suitable waste management service providers, and we were not able to close-out all our waste management contracts. This will roll over to next year.

Another challenge relates to the lack of clarity around the new EPR regulations, which came into effect on 5 November 2021. We have been monitoring the development of this legislation, and have complied with the initial requirements. We have registered on the government website, signed up to the relevant producer responsibility organisations (PROs), and paid our levies. Yet, there is a lot of confusion, even among specialists, about what really needs to be done next to participate effectively, after these initial steps have been taken.

Performance

In 2022, our landfill waste intensity was 0,006 (tonne/tonne), representing a 32% decrease from the previous year. Improved waste segregation onsite at our facilities has led to an increase in the volume of waste diverted from landfill.

PACKAGING REDUCTION

In recent years, we have taken various steps to improve the efficiency and sustainability of our packaging. We have eliminated unnecessary packaging, optimised light-weighting, specified packaging made with recycled materials, and will soon be introducing alternative packaging solutions for some of our most popular brands.

Our key activities to date

• Identifying innovation opportunities
  We completed a baseline assessment of our packaging footprint and have identified non-recyclable items across all our categories. We followed this with a packaging sustainability gap-analysis to identify various packaging improvement opportunities. Based on this analysis, we will soon be introducing new packaging solutions across our most popular brands.
• Optimising light-weighting
  Most of our packaging across all our categories is at optimum weight or thickness.
• Reducing primary, secondary and tertiary packaging
  We have removed flat-boards as secondary packaging on new product lines, and all new products are now packed directly onto a pallet using a thinner but stronger shrink wrap. We will be extending these initiatives to the rest of our product range, and ultimately, we will eliminate the use of shrink wrapping with the introduction of automated palletisation.
• Specify the use of recycled plastics
  We have migrated most of our Beverages and HPC products to reusable and recyclable plastic packaging. Our beverage bottles now use 85% recycled PET (rPET), and we plan to increase this further in future. A key challenge is the limited availability of affordable high-quality recycled materials in South Africa. We are working with various stakeholders within the plastic recycling value chain to find opportunities to address this.
• Replacing non-recyclable with recyclable
  We are working with current suppliers to develop recyclable monolayer solutions for flexible plastic materials, and our first initiative will be the replacement of our two-kilogram Woolworths and Tastic rice packs with recyclable monolayer alternatives. The development of flexible and recyclable plastics remain a global challenge for industry.
• Testing biodegradable and compostable packaging materials
  We are testing a material made from sugarcane, for inclusion in all our high-density polyethylene (HDPE) closures and bottles. We are exploring the scalability of compostable materials in South Africa, but face challenges regarding costs and infrastructure. Solutions will require collaboration and collective impact.
• Assessing reuse models
  We are exploring reuse models that include product-refills and digital-ordering solutions, yet solutions will require collaboration and collective impact. 90% of the packaging in our Beverage and HPC businesses is reusable.
• Piloting antimicrobial technology
  We are exploring the possibility to extend the shelf-life of our bread products by incorporating anti-microbial additives into plastic bread bags and thereby reduce food waste and loss.
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