KFC becomes the first Quick Service Restaurant in Canada to take this bold step
Renderings of KFC’s home compostable packaging. (Credit: Yum! Ltd)
In celebration of World Environment Day (June 5), KFC Canada announces a huge milestone in its sustainability journey: by 2025, all consumer-facing packaging will be fully home compostable. KFC will begin piloting its first home compostable bucket this year. This bold commitment will divert nearly 200 million pieces of packaging from Canadian landfills each year.
“One of our leading principles at KFC Canada is feeding people, not landfills. The move to 100% home compostable consumer packaging is a bold and ambitious step we are taking to inspire positive change in the communities we operate in,” said Nivera Wallani, President & General Manager, KFC Canada. “We embrace our responsibility to drive meaningful change across the industry and work closely with our suppliers, franchisees and team members to continuously lessen KFC’s environmental footprint.”
Protecting the planet is one of KFC’s core values and they have made great strides in lessening their environmental footprint over the last several years. Recent highlights in KFC Canada‘s sustainability journey include:
Testing of fibre-based cutlery: In November 2020, select restaurants began testing a new fibre-based ‘spork’, made from bamboo, corn and sugarcane. The new cutlery naturally decomposes at room temperature and requires no additional treatment, nor does it leave any toxic by-products. The process takes approximately 18 months to decompose. Once fully introduced into the KFC restaurant system, the compostable cutlery will eliminate 40 million pieces of plastic cutlery annually.
Introduction of bamboo buckets: In 2020, KFC Canada announced that bamboo would become a permanent packaging solution for poutine and chicken – given that the material is fast-growing, anti-bacterial and 100% biodegradable. By the end of 2021, KFC will have removed 12 million plastic poutine containers from its operations by transitioning to bamboo.
Removing plastic straws and bags: In 2019, KFC Canada announced its pledge to eliminate all non-recoverable or non-reusable plastic-based packaging by 2025. By the end of 2019, KFC Canada removed all plastic straws and bags from its restaurants, eliminating 50 million plastic straws and 10 million plastic bags across the country and replacing them with fibre-based alternatives.
“Our packaging is a part of our heritage and our storytelling. Beyond its iconic image, we want KFC’s packaging to be forward-thinking, inspiring, and to champion functionality, food safety and eco-friendly solutions,” said Armando Carrillo, Innovation Manager, KFC Canada. “We have continued to accelerate our efforts and push the boundaries to bring more environmentally sustainable packaging solutions to market, including our recent move to bamboo poutine buckets. A fully home compostable packaging line is the ultimate win for us and for the environment.”
To celebrate this new commitment, KFC Canada is partnering with Toronto-based artist, Briony Douglas to design and create an iconic KFC bucket installation made entirely out of home compostable materials. The installation, which Douglas will complete over 25 days – a nod to the 2025 commitment, will be revealed on June 30.
Source: Company Press Release