Brakes has now removed 96% of what it deems hard-to-recycle plastics out of its supply chain, following a 2018 commitment to eliminate all non-recyclable hard black plastic from its own brand products.
The remaining 4% is now made up of SKUs of smaller items such as screw tops, with the foodservice wholesaler claiming to be on target to meet its 2ZERO20 commitment.
Hugo Mahoney, Brakes chief executive, said: “When we launched the 2ZERO20 commitment, we were the first foodservice wholesaler to make a pledge to remove black plastic. Since our announcement, we’ve made some fantastic progress and radically changed our supply chain approach removing more than 1,000 tonnes of hard black plastic.
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Elsewhere in the commitments, Brakes also pledged to continually reduce other unnecessary packaging for its customers, whilst working with experts to identify other problematic areas. As a response to this it has now have set up a Packaging Forum in order to share best practice and discuss potential alternatives and was the first delivered wholesaler to join the UK Plastics Pact.
“We are very pleased with our progress to date, but we recognise that we must go further and continue to lead the industry. We are therefore committed to working to ensure that we create a better tomorrow,” Mahoney added.
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