2 OCTOBER, 2022

Healthy nourishment should also contribute to a healthy planet

A conscious consumer, who is concerned about the quantity and quality of nutrients in dairy products, cannot ignore his or her carbon footprint.

To begin with, you should know that every person, organization, activity or product emits greenhouse gases (GHG) and the total amount of gases generated by each of them is called carbon footprint. Although it is inevitable, because even when we breathe we are already emitting CO2, the challenge is to reduce it as much as possible to mitigate climate change.

That is why local purchasing, water, energy and waste reduction initiatives have become so important.

It’s up to you to reward good practices

When you prefer the product of certain brand or company, you are rewarding both good and bad practices along the chain; that is, with your purchase decision you can support efforts to reduce environmental impact or demand better business behavior in the way they produce dairy products, transport them, market them or manage their chain (for example, their containers and packaging).

Sustainability is constantly under construction and initiatives in the packaging world are dynamic, sometimes limited by regulations. For example, in mechanical recycling, it is not yet permitted for food packaging to be manufactured with recycled raw materials. Currently, this is only the case with PET (plastic from bottles).

With the above as a framework, Plastilene Group accompanies dairy farmers in exploration and implementation of improvements in their packaging design in order to reduce their carbon footprint and prepare them, from their manufacture, for the closing of the cycle. In this way, we add value and prevent it from ending up in a landfill.

We use tools such as life cycle analysis that allow us to compare the impacts of the current packaging with the eco-designed packaging or its substitutes, and this is how we apply innovation at the product origin.

What is the challenge?

Understanding that we are all part of the chain and have a very active participation role. Just as we have the right to be informed about product nutrients or  sustainable practices in the manufacture of its packaging, we have the duty to be well informed, choose wisely (not because it is the most popular option) and take responsibility for our waste.

So, every time you see a dairy product which container or packaging is made with recyclable materials, less inks and low weight: Support it! Join that brand that is making extra efforts to move towards circular economy.