Mars uses recycled plastic in some pet packaging

The food-grade plastic helps the pet food leader meet sustainability goals

Mars pet packaging cat — Mars plans to "test and learn" from its pilot to include recycled plastic in pet food packaging, progressively scaling up recycled plastic content in its packs.

*Photo courtesy of Mars Inc.*

Mars Inc. is including recycled plastic in its pet food packaging in Europe and plans to expand the pilot to other brands.

The maker of Pedigree, Iams and Whiskas will use the packaging with recycled polypropylene for some popular brands, but it did not specify which ones. Using advanced recycling technology will be instrumental to achieving the company’s goal of using 30% recycled content and 25% less virgin plastic by 2025, Mars says.

The recycling process used by SABIC petrochemical company, a Mars partner on the project, ensures the packs won’t be different from existing packaging. The method takes mixed, hard-to-recycle plastic and transforms it into a reusable food-grade version.

The new pet packs from packaging supplier Huhtamaki are part of the Mars Sustainable Packaging Plan with a goal of 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

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Rose Shilling is a previous managing editor of Food Engineering Magazine. She wrote feature stories on a variety of topics and tracked the food packaging industry. A journalist with an editing background at news services and newspapers, she also has driven editorial projects in health care and higher education.