Kellogg has announced new global sustainability commitments in two areas – responsible sourcing and natural resources, that are actionable until 2020.
"This company was founded on the belief that there's an inherent goodness in grains and that continues to hold true today," John Bryant, Kellogg Company chairman of the board and chief executive officer stated. "We are committed to nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive. Our new sustainability goals will help us do this by delivering high-quality grains in a responsible way that enriches the lives of consumers and agricultural growers around the world."
Kellogg Company’s commitment to packaging sustainability goes back more than a century, when W.K. Kellogg began using recycled materials for the first cereal boxes.
Now it has made a significant commitment towards providing sustainable packaging across the board and reducing waste sent to landfill. Here is Kellogg’s global undertaking in its own words:
WASTE (by 2016): “In recognition of increasingly scarce natural resources, leftover or unwanted materials have come to be seen as valuable assets rather than “waste.” Many companies – and consumers – now do their best to minimise waste and find new uses for discards, sending unwanted materials to landfill only as a last resort.
“At Kellogg, approximately 3% of our overall waste ends up in a landfill. The remaining 97% is recycled or sold to livestock operators to be used for animal feed. (A tiny portion – less than .01 percent – is sent for energy recovery.) Waste to landfill is the metric we track most closely and report on, as it is the one we most want to minimise. As part of this commitment, Kellogg will increase to 30% the number of its plants globally sending zero waste to landfill.
PACKAGING: “We are committed to ensuring that our packaging is effective in protecting our foods while minimising the materials used. We use a sustainable packaging framework that focuses on improving performance in three key areas: the package-to-food ratio, percent recycled material content and percent materials that are commonly recoverable. Kellogg is committed to continuing further implementation of resource-efficient packaging, as measured by improved performance for recycled content, recyclability and food-to-package ratios.
“As a member of the Consumer Goods Forum we are committed to help achieve zero net deforestation from tropical forests. Kellogg will maintain our commitment to 100% timber-based packaging from either recycled content or from certified sustainable sources.
Most of our cereal, cracker and waffle box liners are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is coded as #2 flexible plastic. This is the same material used to make white plastic grocery bags. Number 2 plastic is commonly recycled, but the recycle symbol is not typically printed on plastic bags or liners. Kellogg is undertaking initiatives to help people recognise liners that are recyclable and encourage them to recycle this material.
Rebecca Boustead, director, corporate communications and public affairs at Kellogg Australia added, “Kellogg is committed to minimising its environmental footprint and developing more sustainable manufacturing solutions. In Australia, one achievement we’re proud of is the reduction of waste to landfill from our manufacturing plants by more than 29 percent between 2012 and 2013.”
“Meanwhile, over 800,000 Kellogg wrappers and cereal box liners were recovered in 2013 through the REDcycle Program, of which Kellogg is a founding member. Kellogg Australia will continue looking for improvements that will help to deliver on our new global goals.”
REDcycle aims to recycle flexible plastics that cannot be put out for collection through council kerbside recycling schemes, and provides consumers with an easy option to recycle plastic waste such as cereal bags.
The new commitment may be viewed in full here: Kellogg Company Sustainability Commitments to 2020
