Moy Park, a poultry producer in Northern Ireland, has pledged to reduce its overall usage of packaging, as part of its sustainable strategy.
Image: Moy Park packaging head Matt Harris with OPRL chair Jane Bevis. Photo: courtesy of Moy Park.
The new campaign has been launched by Moy Park to assess the use of plastics and packaging across its business and the industry.
The meat producer is planning to decrease its overall usage of packaging by 5% year on year, while increasing the same percentage of recyclable packaging.
Moy Park’s new target is one of a set of goals announced as part of its ‘Remove, Reduce, Recycle and Research’ strategy, which is supported by various initiatives across the business.
The firm will work with academics and supply chain partners for the development of sustainable packaging across its product portfolio, in addition to eliminating single-use plastic from its office and restaurants by 2020.
Moy Park is planning to move to 100% widely recyclable rigid packaging by 2022, as well as intends to make all other packaging to be widely recyclable by 2025.
Moy Park packaging head Matt Harris said: “We have purposely set ambitious, industry leading targets in order to deliver real results that can be felt by our customers and ultimately consumers.
“To achieve these targets, we’ll be reducing our reliance on plastics, focusing on innovative new packaging, R&D and delivering accurate, clear recycling messages. We are committed to developing our business sustainability and we are excited to launch this latest campaign as part of our wider environmental commitments.”
Moy Park noted that the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) scheme, which aims to deliver a simple and UK-wide recycling message on retailer and brand packaging, has appreciated the announcement.
OPRL chair Jane Bevis said: “Reducing materials use and shifting design to deliver more recyclable packaging are essential in reducing our sector’s environmental impact. We’re thrilled that Moy Park are taking a lead in this, and in engaging consumers in recycling.”
Moy Park, which operates 12 processing and manufacturing units in Northern Ireland, England, France and the Netherlands, processes more than 280 million birds and produces around 200,000 tons of prepared foods per year.