When we talk about protecting, we’re not just talking about pesticides or packaging. It’s about protection of the earth, the crops and the end product. Used correctly, packaging and the appropriate type of pesticides extend the shelf life of our fruits and vegetables, minimise food waste and help our crops thrive in a safe environment. And together we continuously explore new ways of navigating in this field.
Pesticides are an important tool in the production process, they are used in agriculture to control weeds, insect infestation and plant diseases and they are good, when used correctly. However, over the past decades, the large and inappropriate use of the chemicals, has caused the contamination of air, soil and water.
Because of the high level of toxicity, many living organisms as birds, fish, beneficial insects, and non-target plants, have been affected. This needs to be changed! Also humans are also exposed to pesticides via the food chain. A long exposure on these substances provoke diseases, such as cancer, neurotoxicity, and neurodegenerative disorders. It is extremely important to reduce the pesticide usage!
Biodiversity means the variety of life on Earth at all its forms, from genes to ecosystems, and include the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life. it includes every living thing from humans to organisms, such as microbes, fungi, and invertebrates.
Biodiversity is important to most aspects of our lives. It provides functioning ecosystems that supply oxygen, clean air and water, pollination of plants, pest control, wastewater treatment. It also helps us to fulfil our basic needs such as food, fuel, shelter, and medicine. Furthermore, ecosystems provide crucial services such as pollination, seed dispersal, Biodiversity can even enable us to develop areas, such as inventing new medicines. In the end, the medicines, in the past, were all based on the usage of various herbs, that used to grow wild in the nature.
Biodiversity has also an important cultural value to humans for spiritual or religious reasons. In the end, we also value biodiversity because of how it shapes who we are, our relationships to each other, and social norms.
These relational values are part of peoples’ individual or collective sense of wellbeing, responsibility for, and connection with the environment. The different values placed on biodiversity are important because they can influence the conservation decisions people make every day.
Over the last century, humans have come to dominate the planet, causing rapid ecosystem change and massive loss of biodiversity across the planet. The Earth has always experienced changes and extinctions. However, today they are occurring at an unprecedented rate. Important threats to biodiversity include loss of life to many species, unsustainable resource use, invasive animal and plant species, pollution, and global climate change. The underlying causes of biodiversity loss are mainly growing human population and overconsumption.
Packaging is one of our focus areas and we work systematically to reduce our environmental impact step by step.
In 2020, we implemented our new packaging policy. This year, we have started following up the results from clearly established goals and we see that we’re on the right path to reach those goals. Our packaging policy states that all companies need to undergo improvement-projects, something that has resulted in several good initiatives.
Internally, we have put in a lot of work to get a full picture on all of our packaging. As a result, we have changed strategy and instead of focusing on improving individual packages, we’re now taking a wider look and working with the packages that have the biggest impact.
Our new strategy also aligns better with the enormous work we have done to create new packages, since we always require that any package is customer-friendly, suits our production and is as environmentally friendly as possible with the same amount of functionality. Every package needs to protect the food it contains and keep it fresh for as long as possible but it also needs to clearly show the brand and inform you, as a consumer, about allergens and product contents. On top of that, we carry out comprehensive testing with sensors and bacterial comparisons before launching a new package on the market.
Today, about 75% of our packaging material comes from renewable materials and 99% is recyclable. Unfortunately, recyclable packaging isn’t always a guarantee that the package actually is recycled and we see a need to keep working closely together with customers, consumers and the wider community to continue improving in this area. Several of our companies have also begun a partnership with packaging providers to find more sustainable solutions and these, in some instances, include customers.
Today, half of all plastic packaging is thrown away in the household waste. The food group and our mother company Greenfood, wants to change that, which is why they are starting a collaboration with Bower, the app that allows you to earn money by sorting and recycling their packaging. For us, it is another step in the work to minimize our climate footprint and contribute to increased circularity in society.
When so much packaging is still thrown in the household waste, we must ask ourselves what more we can do to increase recycling. Through the collaboration with Bower, we strengthen our transition journey where we strive for circularity, to take responsibility and contribute to change.
Bower was developed in Sweden and was launched in 2019. The aim is to increase recycling by encouraging and rewarding you to pledge and get money to shop for instead of throwing away packaging in the household waste. Through the app you scan a barcode or QR code on the packaging before placing it in the recycling bin and receives points that can be turned into money to shop for or donate to charity.
