Heinz Red Ketchup Packets Set to Get a Green Makeover

The Kraft Heinz Co. has announced plans to recreate 100 percent of its packaging to make it more environmentally sustainable by 2025.

Heinz ketchup packets and all of the companies other products are going green.

The Kraft Heinz Company recently announced a goal of redesigning 100 percent of its packaging globally to make it recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

The company, which is co-headquartered in Pittsburgh and includes brands such as Kraft, Heinz, Capri Sun, Lunchables, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer and Velveeta, is joining other companies such as Nestle SA and Colgate Palmolive in setting deadlines to make their products more friendly to the environment.

Kraft Heinz has already exceeded its goal of cutting out 50,000 metric tons of packaging by revamping its design for several products, including Kraft Easy Mac Cups, and is currently working on its 2015 pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, energy consumption and the amount of solid waste it sends to landfills by 15 percent by 2020.

Packaging for Kraft Heinz products, including Heinz ketchup packets, multi-laminated Capri Sun juice pouches and wrappings on individual Kraft Singles cheese slices can’t be easily recycled through regular municipal programs, according to Bloomberg. The company isn’t exactly sure yet how it will address this issue in a way that balances sustainability with requirements for food safety, shelf life and other factors.

Kraft Heinz plans to partner with packaging experts, organizations and coalitions to explore solutions and has begun working with Environmental Packaging International (EPI) on consulting, tracking and other specialist services in the packaging space. The company will further outline its strategy and timeline for achieving its new commitment in its next Corporate Social Responsibility Report, expected to be issued in 2019.

“Our collective industry has a massive challenge ahead of us with respect to packaging recyclability, end-of-life recovery and single-use plastics,” says Bernardo Hees, CEO at Kraft Heinz. “Even though we don’t yet have all the answers, we owe it to current and future generations who call this planet ‘home’ to find better packaging solutions and actively progress efforts to improve recycling rates.”