Today is World Environment Day, and this year’s theme is “solutions to plastic pollution” #BeatPlasticPollution. More than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced yearly with half of it being designed as “single use”. Less than 10% of this is recycled and a significant amount ends up in lakes, rivers, and streams1.
Did you know?! Plastic pollution can have negative effects on cattle when plastic litter ends up in pastures where cattle are grazing. Cattle, especially calves, can become curious and try to ingest it, having negative and potentially even deadly affects2.
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) is proud to have members like Walmart, that are committed to reducing plastic waste.
Walmart has a “zero plastic waste” by 2025 goal that was set back in 2005 for Canada, US, UK and Japan. By promoting a more “circular economy” where reusing and regenerating is valued, the “take-and-dispose” mindset can be reduced. By collaborating with suppliers, customers, and communities, they hope to use less plastic, recycle more, and support system-wide improvements.
Packaging design is one key area that they are focusing on to reach this goal. This includes supporting the development of environmentally friendly options, a design that promotes package reuse when possible, and expansion of recycling possibility. This also involves some consumer promotion to educate on and inspire recycling habits and promote alternatives to plastic shopping bags.
For their beef products, they have started using rPET trays which means they are made from recycled materials. Once the package is ready to be thrown away, look on the back for recycling instructions to help reduce your plastic waste and promote the circular economy.
As of the end of 2020, on a global scale, they were 55% towards their goal of 100% private brand packaging being recyclable, reusable, or industrially compostable by 2025, and 9% towards their goal of 17% of private brand plastic packaging being made of post-consumer recycled content by 2025.
Visit https://www.walmartsustainabilityhub.com/waste/sustainable-packaging to learn more about Walmart’s sustainability commitments.
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