To reduce our impact on the environment and ensure that we are providing the services that our customers deserve, Almarai is committed to reduce the impact of our packaging as part of our doing Doing better every day strategy. We are focusing on innovation as the key method for reducing potential packaging waste using only the essential material needed to protect and preserves our products. We are aiming to strike a balance between finding packaging solutions that reduce our impact without compromising on the freshness, taste, and quality of our products. By using innovative designs, materials, and technologies, we can not only reduce the number of materials entering the waste stream but also contribute to greater supply chain efficiency. We are actively seeking to reduce our overall packaging with particular focus placed on paper and plastic packaging. We have set the ambitious goal of preventing 9000 metric tons of plastic waste entering the waste streams by 2025. This goal will be achieved through the replacement, upgrading and innovation of new techniques.
We have continued to optimize our plastic and paper packaging to ensure that the quality of our products remain highest whilst reducing the impact on the environment. Regarding our target to prevent our goal of 9,000 metric tons of waste by 2025, we achieved a total of 5,667 metric tons to date. In 2021, we removed 173.75 metric tons of plastics and 312.2 annualized metric tons of paper weight. Key projects that contributed to these reductions includes:
Progress has also been made in the removal of hard to recycle packaging materials , and a glue optimization project
Where possible we are incorporating recycled paper into our transit packaging. Across our GCC operations, 67% of cardboard packaging came from recycled materials. Through investments at our manufacturing sites, we were able to deliver reductions in the amount of board consumed through redesigning our outer boxes to be more resource efficient as well. In addition, the palletization of finished products from Premier Foods was reviewed and modified, thus increasing pallet efficiency and reducing the number of pallet movements throughout the supply chain.
5,667 metric tons of packaging reduction since 2018.
3,842 metric tons in total of plastic packaging reduction since 2018
1,826 metric tons of paper packaging since 2018.
67% of carboard packaging from recycled materials.
In 2021, we worked to draft Environmental Impact of Packaging Position Statement.
| Goal/Target | Progress |
|---|---|
| Avoid the use of 9,000 metric tons of plastics from entering the consumer waste stream by 2025 (against a 2015 baseline) |  |
| Actively support the transformation of the packaging economy in KSA by 2025 |  |
