Accelerating our journey towards plastic circularity
What’s the problem with plastic waste?
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As we celebrate World Environment Day 2025, and its continuing theme of ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’, we’re taking a moment to reflect on our latest progress in our journey towards plastic circularity.
What’s the problem with plastic waste?
Plastic waste continues to draw considerable attention as an environmental concern. It not only affects biodiversity and ecosystems but also contributes to climate change. At Givaudan, we continue to strive towards our ambition to 100% plastic circularity by 2030. This means that by 2030, we will replace single-use plastics with eco-friendly alternatives across our sites and operations.
This might sound simple in practice but it’s not an easy journey. So how are we addressing it?
A four-pillared strategy
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A four-pillared strategy
Our approach to achieving plastic circularity revolves around four key pillars:
- Reducing usage, to minimise our reliance on plastics where we can.
- Designing for circularity by aiming to create packaging that can be reused, recycled, or composted, thereby minimising waste.
- Increasing usage of renewable materials to reduce reliance on virgin plastics.
- Improving the system and practices by enhancing our means of ensuring that plastics are disposed of responsibly and can be reintegrated into the production cycle.
From strong foundations to accelerated action
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From strong foundations to accelerated action
Over the past five years, we’ve built a strong foundation through our plastic strategy enablers, for example, through our ‘plastics book; an internal resource which gives us insight into our detailed plastic footprint as well as an inventory of our plastic usage and details about its end of life. We have further built this foundation through our collaborations with third party experts and by putting in place robust governance on our plastic usage.
With this in place, we are now entering a phase of accelerated action. This involves scaling our successful initiatives, fostering a culture of innovation, and continuously seeking new opportunities to enhance our sustainability practices. We are committed to not only meeting but exceeding our plastic circularity goals, ensuring that our efforts have a lasting impact on the environment. This work is closely connected to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 12 which focuses on Responsible Production and Consumption. You can find out more about the SDGs and how our work supports key goals here.
Find out more about the SDGs and how our work supports key goals.
Progress in action
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Progress in action: Reducing virgin PE (polyethelene) plastic at Naarden
A great example of our strategy in action can be seen at our Naarden site in the Netherlands. Previously, the 25- and 30-litre jerrycans used on the site were delivered in plastic bags, which were discarded immediately after unloading. This practice resulted in an average of 1,500 grams of plastic waste per pallet.
Through collaboration with our packaging supplier, we successfully eliminated these bags and optimised the wrapping of jerrycans, reducing plastic weight by 88% to just 175 grams per pallet. This change, applied to over 7,000 pallets annually, translates to a reduction of at least 9 metric tonnes of virgin PE plastic.
These actions have not only reduced plastic waste but also improved operational efficiency at our automatic filling line. Workshops and collaborative efforts among departments led to innovative solutions that further minimised plastic usage. This teamwork exemplifies our commitment to responsible plastic management and stakeholder engagement. Read more about the reduction of plastics in Naarden.
Want to know more about our plastics ambition? Read our latest Integrated Report on waste management and circular principles.
Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash