US-based grocery retailer Albertsons has pledged to reduce plastic used for products across its portfolio of 2,300 stores.
All company brands will participate in the initiative, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Tom Thumb, Shaw’s, Star Market, ACME Markets, Randalls, and Haggen.
The company will initially focus on transforming the packaging of its Own Brands products to 100% recyclable, reusable or industrially compostable packaging by 2025.
It will also cut plastic usage by removing single-use plastics, as well as achieve at least 20% recycled content in own brand plastic packaging by 2025.
The retailer plans to offer clear recycling communications on its Own Brands product packaging by using QR codes by 2022.
It will also introduce How2Recycle label for its Own Brands packaging and improve the reliability and transparency of recyclability claims.
Albertsons Own Brands president Geoff White said: “As we innovate and expand our Own Brand lines, we always keep the overall impact of packaging in mind and seek out ways to improve sustainability for each and every product.
“Our suppliers are strong partners in this effort and, in many cases, are leading the charge on reducing, reusing, and decreasing plastic content.”
Through its Southern California Division, Albertsons is working with a vendor to recycle #5 polypropylene crates used to ship fruits and vegetables as part of a closed-loop recycling programme.
After delivering products, crates are processed into plastic pellets, which will be used to produce new crates.
In February this year, the grocery chain partnered with sustainable packaging solutions firm TemperPack to adopt paper-based insulator ClimaCell for pharmacy shipments in a bid to replace its traditional Styrofoam coolers with TemperPack’s insulators.
