Ketchup packets to get makeover in recycling push

The ketchup packet’s days could be numbered as Kraft Heinz Co. plans to overhaul its global packaging designs to find greener alternatives.

The Chicago-based food giant said it will make 100 percent of its packaging globally recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Over the next seven years, the company will partner with experts, organizations and industry coali- tions to develop alternative recycled materials in its packaging.

Kraft Heinz joins other consumer companies including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nestle SA and Colgate Palmolive that have set explicit deadlines to make their products more friendly to the environment. The goal could spell major changes for some of Kraft Heinz’s most well-known products, according to Caroline Krajewski, head of global corporate reputation.

Heinz ketchup packets, multi-laminate Capri Sun juice pouches and the packaging of individually wrapped Kraft Singles cheese can’t be easily recycled through regular municipal programs. Multi-laminate packaging uses both foil and plastic, which can’t be separated easily.

Both consumers and investors have pressed the company to overhaul its packaging in the past few years, Krajewski said. More than 13 percent of shareholders supported an investor proposal at the annual meeting in April ask- ing for a report on the recyclability of its packaging.

Kraft Heinz has shortened its list of products sold in ready-todrink pouches and exceeded a goal to cut out 50,000 metric tons of packaging by optimizing its design for products such as the Kraft Easy Mac Cups, Krajewski said. The company is collecting data to build a baseline level of how much of its packaging is recyclable and compostable, and plans to disclose that information, she said.