“Packaging and sustainability have become one of the core areas while designing any new product, service, or concept in the current times. The FMCG and QSR industries have opted for sustainable practices and are innovating packaging solutions for the future while committing to their environmental responsibilities. Food companies are stepping up their sustainability efforts, collaborating with their suppliers, and fine-tuning their business models. In fact, owing to the growth in consumer awareness and consciousness, sustainability practices for many companies and brands have transitioned from compliance to proactive interventions and tackling core issues, such as raising farmer livelihoods, and improving environmental impact,” said Rajeev Ranjan, chief operating officer – McDonald’s India North and East.
“Globally, McDonald’s expects to increase the use of Chain of Custody (CoC) certified fiber across the complete packaging portfolio and implement global and local solutions across the business to expand the reduction, reuse and recycling of guest packaging,” added Ranjan.
Speaking about McDonald’s efforts towards reducing packaging through design innovations, Ranjan said that McDonald’s follows a two-pronged approach towards packaging – i) how can it improve consumer experience and ii) move towards minimum/zero environmental impact. The process encompasses an innovation-driven approach to improve ease of use of the product by consumers, enhance/conserve product quality, reduce the use of packaging, switch to more sustainable materials and recycle. Ranjan said, “We work closely with our partners and suppliers in developing innovative alternate materials suitable to our needs. For example, molded fiber to replace bio-polymer lids, heat seal lids, wraps to replace clamshells and reduce packaging waste. Our going ahead plans include more renewable fiber coatings that are easy to recycle, reduce plastic content and help meet the end-of-life requirements as per local legislation.”
Ranjan shared that all centrally sourced packaging at McDonald’s North and East India is Chain of Custody certified, with 100% of wood fiber coming from recycled sources or forests certified to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard, a globally recognized standard for responsible forest management.
The FSC sets standards for and promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Wood and paper products labeled as FSC certified are high standards products and the flow of the material can be monitored from the forest to the end product. This is known as the Chain of Custody.
“FSC certified fiber has been our primary material replacement for plastic packaging in the Indian market. Driven by our efforts to reduce conventional single-use plastics, supported by legislative pressure in certain areas, we have decided to transition away from plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, and plastic cups,” Ranjan said.
“McDonald’s food packaging is designed to protect our food products and maintain heat while reducing moisture, ensuring that paper packaging is 100% food safe and providing the necessary barrier or resistance to grease and oils. Packaging plays an important role in reducing food waste and helping us serve hot and freshly prepared food quickly and safely to our customers. We expect sustainable materials to perform equally well, as non-sustainable alternatives/plastics, which can be challenging,” said Ranjan.
Responding to questions from The Packman regarding the role of the government and regulatory bodies in helping the packaging industry achieve its sustainability potential, Ranjan said, “The Government of India has been undertaking a lot of initiative such as ban on single-use plastics, profit-linked tax incentive for food packaging, National Packaging Initiative to further incentivize innovation in this sector. “These are all systemic issues and addressing changes of such scale requires collaborative efforts from multi-stakeholders. Sustainability is on the agenda in most of business discussions. We think with this growing awareness and government focus, the research on eco-friendly and sustainable packaging is steadily on the rise in the country.”
