Perfetti Van Melle joins UK Plastics Pact

Confectionery brand Perfetti Van Melle has joined the UK Plastics Pact, joining FMCG titans like General Mills and Unilever to unite in the common goal of trans-forming the plastics economy and tackling plastic pollution through the UK.

The UK Plastics Pact is a bold and unique initiative which aims to transform the UK’s plastic system. By bringing together the entire plastics value chain behind a com-mon set of ambitious targets, it will move us towards a system which keeps plastic in the economy and out of the environment. Underpinned by government policy and citizen action, The Pact unites governments, local authorities, NGOs and busi-nesses involved in producing, selling, collecting and reprocessing plastic, to deliver ambitious targets for change by 2025.

The Pact’s key aims include eliminating problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic, making 100 per cent of plastics packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable, as well as ensuring 70 per cent of plastics packaging is effectively recycled or composted and 30 per cent average content is recycled across all plastic packaging by 2025. Last year, the UK Plastics Pact saw a positive 84 per cent reduction in problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics since 2018 and noted that recycled content levels have risen from 8.5 per cent in 2018 to 22 per cent in 2021 .

“Tackling plastic waste requires concerted global and national level action,” said Hayley Osborne, Communications and Sustainability Manager. “Perfetti Van Melle has already taken meaningful measures to reduce plastics in its packaging and eliminating plastic packaging entirely, where possible.

“Most recently, we launched an industry-first Paperboard bottle for Mentos Pure Fresh Gum, an innovation which reduced the plastic in this packaging by 93 per cent in one fell swoop. We also replaced the plastic sticks in our world-renowned Chupa Chups lollies with paper sticks in H2 2022, a step which will eliminate around 5k metric tons p.a. of plastic globally over the next three years.

“Our membership of The UK Plastics Pact complements the planned program of goals outlined in our own Reduce, Recycle, Recover, initiative, and will ensure we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards and benchmarks in pursuit of a more sustainable future.”