French personal care company L’Oréal has pledged to use recycled plastics or bio-based sources in all products’ packaging by 2030.

The commitment is part of the company’s new sustainability programme, L’Oréal For The Future, which lays down the group’s latest set of ambitions for 2030.

L’Oréal aims to accelerate its commitments to both sustainability and inclusion.

L’Oréal chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Agon said: “L’Oréal’s sustainable revolution is entering a new era. The challenges the planet is facing are unprecedented, and it is essential to accelerate our efforts to preserve a safe operating space for humanity.

“We do so in our own business operations and in our contribution to the society at large. We know that the biggest challenges remain to come and L’Oréal will stay faithful to its ambition: operate within the limits of the planet.”

Agon was quoted by Reuters as saying that the group plans to shake up the packaging of beauty products in particular, with all plastic casings either made from recycled plastic or natural derivatives within ten years.

Additionally, L’Oreal is working with suppliers on raw materials and recycling techniques.

The company also developed a Product Environmental & Social Impact Labelling mechanism that will include a score on a scale from A to E to provide more sustainable choices to its consumers.

L’Oréal is also investing €150m to address urgent social and environmental issues.

In October last year, confectionery company Ferrero Group pledged to make all its packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

A partnership led by packages and freight transporting solution provider UPS is set to launch a new range of packaging for shipping beverages.

UPS is launching the spirits packaging, designed for shipping bottles of spirits and wine, in partnership with Smurfit Kappa and Sealed Air.

The packaging has been developed and tested by UPS.

The new range of packaging will be used to ship individual bottles of spirits and wine for UK and Ireland producers. It will be distributed by UK firm Macfarlane Packaging.

UPS UK & Ireland president Mark Vale said: “Ecommerce presents a huge opportunity for drinks producers wanting to grow their businesses, as a fifth of alcohol consumers in key export markets are already purchasing their favourite brands online.

“We designed this new packaging to simplify the process and bring peace of mind that these fragile products will arrive safely at their destination. By combining this specialised packaging with UPS’s smart global logistics network, brokerage expertise and service coverage, distillers can focus on their passion and sharing their savoir-faire with the world.”

The fully recyclable one-bottle packs come in four customisable versions and can accommodate most of the wine and spirits bottles on the market.

Additionally, the packaging features the Korrvu Retention technology by Sealed Air, which enables the bottle to be suspended in transparent film.

UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company offers a direct-to-consumer wine shipping export service from selected countries in Europe to 60 countries across North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa.

US-based residential and commercial organic material recovery systems provider Organix Solutions has introduced a new venture for sustainable packaging solutions.

2DegreesCooler has been founded as an extension of Organix Solutions.

It offers sustainable flexible packaging solutions using industry-specific biopolymer film.

The solutions are targeted towards customers in food services and consumer packaged goods looking for alternatives to plastic that are both functional and affordable.

The venture integrates industry and technical expertise, supply chain partnerships, and CPG/Food brand relationships for material innovation.

By introducing fully recoverable packaging, the company expects to reduce carbon footprint in its operations.

Organix Solutions product development senior vice-president Stuart MacDonald said: “We have invested heavily in biopolymer solutions for organics waste collection and TUV-certified soil biodegradable mulch films, delivering positive economic benefits to both the waste and agriculture industries respectively.

“The 2DegreesCooler venture allows us to expand beyond residential co-collection and agriculture films into the next frontier of sustainability: consumer packaging. That includes food packaging, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and ecommerce shipping.”

Based in Minneapolis, Organix Solutions invested in biopolymer solutions for organics waste collection and TUV-certified soil biodegradable mulch films.

In January last year, Organix Solutions collaborated with Pope Douglas Solid Waste Management to introduce organics recycling to rural Minnesota.

Food and beverage company PepsiCo has decided to remove the image on the packaging of its Aunt Jemima brand, owned by subsidiary The Quaker Oats Company.

The company’s new packaging without the image will be available during the fourth quarter of this year.

Quaker Foods North America vice-president and chief marketing officer Kristin Kroepfl said: “As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations.

“We recognise Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype. While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realise those changes are not enough.”

In addition to removing the image, the company is planning to change the name of the brand. This will happen after the changes of the first phase of packaging are implemented.

The Aunt Jemima brand has existed for more than 130 years.

Kroepfl added: “We acknowledge the brand has not progressed enough to appropriately reflect the confidence, warmth and dignity that we would like it to stand for today. We are starting by removing the image and changing the name.

“We will continue the conversation by gathering diverse perspectives from both our organisation and the Black community to further evolve the brand and make it one everyone can be proud to have in their pantry.”

Plastic additive manufacturer BASF has extended its dispersion portfolio at its facility in Huizhou, South China.

The expansion will enhance the company’s production capacities in Shanghai, which caters the East China region.

This will not only allow the company to better cater to the growing packaging markets in south China, but also benefit the customers as lead-times decrease with increased proximity to material supply.

It will also see a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

BASF Asia Pacific business management, resins and additives vice-president Sylvain Huguenard said: “Moving closer to our growing customer base in South China is part of our corporate strategy.

“It will improve our flexibility to better and quicker serve our customers, also help our customers reduce logistic costs and increase productivity.

“Our customers in South China have appreciated the move and are working closely with us to qualify the products from the Huizhou plant.”

Established in 2010, the BASF Huizhou site produces water-based polymers for various uses, including architecture coatings, paper making, packaging and water-proofing products for the construction industry.

The company started the first production of Joncryl in March this year.

BASF’s Dispersions & Pigments division specialises in high-quality pigments, resins, additives and polymer dispersions across the globe.

In April this year, BASF and digital technology solutions provider Security Matters entered into a binding joint development agreement to develop solutions to trace plastics from production to distribution and circularity.

Global multi brand cosmetics group Natura &Co has committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The group includes four brands, namely Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop.

The announcement is part of the company’s comprehensive sustainability plan, which will see Natura &Co advancing its actions to tackle various issues affecting the world and move towards a circular economic model.

Natura &Co plans to make 100% of its packaging materials reusable, recyclable or compostable across all four brands by 2030.

Additionally, it will increase plastic recycled content across its packaging by 50%. The company will also focus on compensating the equivalent amount of packaging to reach 100% responsible disposal of plastics. This is applicable where there is no recycling infrastructure.

Natura &Co sustainable growth officer Silvia Lagnado said: “We are united, all four companies, in our decision to become Net Zero within ten years, to develop regenerative solutions in pursuit of full circularity, and to take bold action towards more equality and inclusiveness in our network.

“We are focused on our destination and know our path will require innovation as well as collaboration over competition.”

The company is also planning to invest in the development of regenerative solutions including fair trade communities, regenerative extraction systems, and waste-to-plastic solutions by 2030.

It will also collaborate with civil society to achieve its goal.

Alcohol beverages company Diageo North America has committed to make its Seagram’s 7 Crown bottles from 100% recycled plastic (R-PET).

As part of this, the company will get rid of virgin plastic from Seagram’s 7 Crown bottles across all its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) 1.75l, 750ml, 375ml and 200ml formats.

This move will enable the company to eliminate almost 1,000 tonnes of virgin plastic a year.

Diageo North America packaging director Ronald Holmes said: “We continue to take an innovative approach towards delivering sustainable packaging designs and are proud that this move supports our goal to increase recycled content across our brands globally to 45%.

“Using recycled materials to make packaging reduces the carbon footprint of our brands, raises awareness with consumers, and encourages the industry to follow.”

The new bottle is expected to hit retail shelves in the US by the end of this month. The company’s glass-bottle products will remain alongside the new recycled PET bottles.

The switch to sustainable packaging enhances Diageo’s commitment to making 100% of its plastics from recyclable materials, reusable or compostable by 2025.

Last year, the company made an investment to reduce the amount of plastics used in its beer packaging operations.

Diageo North America brand director Jason Sorley said:  “We are very excited to have Seagram’s 7 Crown move to 100% recycled PET, reinforcing our commitment to both innovation and minimising its environmental footprint.”

Food packaging and processing company Tetra Pak has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2050.

This ambition is complemented by the company’s commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its own operations by 2030.

To achieve these goals, Tetra Pak will focus on four key areas, including lowering energy-related emissions and establishing partnerships with suppliers and other stakeholders from its value chain to significantly reduce their carbon footprints.

The company will also focus on the development of its low-carbon circular packaging and equipment portfolio and sustainable recycling value chains.

Additionally, the company’s emissions reduction targets will be set at 1.5°C, in line with the Science Based Targets (SBT) initiative.

Tetra Pak packaging solutions and commercial operations executive vice-president Lars Holmquist said: “In 2017, we were the first company in the food and beverage industry to have our climate impact reduction targets approved by the SBT initiative.

“More recently, we joined the European Alliance for Green Recovery, the first pan-European call for mobilisation on post-crisis green investment solutions.

“Today, we’re once again leading the way by setting ambitious net-zero emissions targets that will drive transformation right across our sector and the entire value chain. The planet’s greatest environmental challenge demands nothing less from us.”

In January this year, Tetra Pak unveiled a virtual marketplace for the food and beverage (F&B) industry, offering Tetra Pak’s customers 24-hour access to more than 300,000 consumables and spare parts for packaging equipment.