Package-to-food ratio gains prove fuel winner, says Kellogg

A decrease in the package-to-product ratio for some of its snack packs saw financial and environmental gains for Kellogg’s, according to its latest corporate sustainability (CSR) report.

Kellogg’s maintains that its sustainable packaging framework focuses on environmental improvements related to package-to-food ratio, the percentage of recycled material content used and the percentage of materials that are commonly recoverable.

Last year, said the CSR report, its design engineers revamped the pouches of a group of 100-calorie snack products in addition to their cartons and corrugated cases, which saw in a 26 per cent cut in the package-to-product ratio for those items.

And the manufacturer flagged up the fact that there were benefits beyond the obvious natural resource and financial savings involved in using less packaging material:

“These changes reduced the weight and size of the packaging, so more products can be loaded onto each truck for delivery,” said the cereal and snack manufacturer.

“We avoided about 200 truck trips in 2010 as a result of this one redesign. That of course also decreased our fossil fuel use and GHG emissions,” it added.

The CSR report also notes the weight reduction gains within its Kashi brands of breakfast cereal and bar, revealing that it has light weighted packaging in the range by up to 12.4 per cent.

It also notes that almost all of its cereal cartons are now made of 100 per cent recycled fibre with about 35 per cent from consumer-recycled materials.

Waste targets

In terms of waste targets, Kellogg said that, since 2005, that it has reduced its overall waste-to-landfill amount by 51 per cent, with a facility in India cutting its food and packaging waste by 67 per cent last year.

“Our plant in Manchester, England, has decreased its waste sent to landfill by 88 per cent in the past three years, largely by changing the onsite waste management contractor from a waste-disposal company to a waste-recycling company. This has ensured that as much waste as possible is segregated and sent for reuse, recycling and composting,” said the Rice Krispies manufacturer.

In addition, reports Kellogg’s, since its baseline year in 2009, it has cut waste to landfill by 20 per cent.

Water usage

Last year, Kellogg started reporting data about its water usage to the Carbon Disclosure Project. Since 2006, it has managed a 14 per cent reduction in water use per metric tones of food produced, while last year saw it reduce its water usage by 3.6 per cent.

In 2010, Kellogg reduced its energy use by 1.6 percent and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 0.7 per cent, and, if it keeps going in this direction, the manufacturer said it expects to meet its 15 per cent and 20 per cent reduction goals by 2015.

Source: Kellogg’s