Mars Wrigley China has launched its first rPET packaging in form of a canister lid for domestic chocolate brand Cui Xiang Mi (CXM).
The 216g canister lid is made from 100 per cent rPET, resulting in ‘no change’ in the final product compared with its predecessor.
Mars Wrigley China estimates the new CXM rPET canister lid will save the use of 36 tonnes of virgin plastics annually.
It anticipates the rPET lid will be adopted by more of its brands over the course of this year, including Snickers and M&M’s.
A 2022 Report on Chinese Consumers’ Recognition of rPET, issued by the China Food Information Center, found that 82 per cent of respondents accepted the replacement of traditional plastics with rPET.
While Mars Wrigley China suggested the launch demonstrated a ‘new chapter’ in its use of recycled content, it acknowledged that the high-value application of recycled materials remained a challenge for the industry due to an immature industry value chain and high costs.
According to data published by the Plastic Recycling Branch of the China Synthetic Resin Association, China, a major PET producer and supplier to the world, recycled 5.68 million tonnes of PET scrap in 2020.
However, the association said most of this was downgraded to rPET fibres used in textiles, which would normally be landfilled or incinerated at the end of their lifecycle.
In 2022, Mars Wrigley China, together with other companies and national associations, kicked off the country’s first industry-wide pilot to build a full-chain and closed-loop recycling system in China for flexible packs.
The aim of the Flexible Plastics Reborn programme is to collect 50,000t of flexible packaging waste by the end of 2025. Mars Wrigley China expects the programme will be able to increase recyclability for flexible packs, while providing more resources and saving energy.
The company claims to have taken a series of actions since 2019 to reimagine and redesign its packaging, making sure it is reusable, recyclable or compostable through innovation and advocacy.
It said the light-weighting of packaging for Dove and Extra has resulted in the saving of more than 1,000t of virgin plastics since 2019, equivalent to 60 million plastics packages.
In 2021, it launched a reusable tin for M&M’s, resulting in 7.1t of virgin plastics savings per year.
