Diageo renews commitment to sustainable packaging

Diageo, global leader in beverage alcohol beverages, is renewing its commitment to sustainable packaging with the release of its revised Global Plastics and Packaging Guidelines.

This is in line with this year’s World Environment Day themed, “Connecting to Nature”. For over a decade, Diageo has been committed to making  packaging more sustainable, principally through increasing recycled content, reducing the weight and increasing recyclability of all product packaging, says the company.

While the majority of Diageo beverage products come in primary packaging made from glass and aluminium, the use of plastic packaging the world over is increasing. These formats are often more challenging to recycle post-consumer use, particularly in markets where recycling infrastructure is undeveloped, frequently resulting in increased litter, pollution and damage to marine environments.

As such, Diageo has developed a supplementary guideline on plastics through their Sustainable Packaging Commitments document, which provides a detailed approach to recycling and addresses key issues specific to these materials.

Amongst a number of commitments in its new supplementary guideline on plastics, Diageo aims to increase the use of pre and post-consumer recycled plastic materials in their plastic formats, particularly Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) in line with the company’s ambition to increase recycled content in all packaging.  The document is aimed at Diageo’s own teams and suppliers across the supply chain to addresses key environmental risks, challenges and solutions.

“As a responsible company we are fully committed to making our packaging more sustainable,” says David Cutter, Diageo’s president of global supply and procurement. We are committed to working with waste experts, consumer goods companies, governments and other stakeholders to find transformative recycling solutions. We also aim to engage consumers and governments to

increase the supply of recycled PET by collaborating and promoting recycling and recycling infrastructure. It is our responsibility to work with others to make it as easy as possible for consumers to recycle packaging once they have purchased and used our products,” Cutter adds.

ODINAKA ANUDU