Danish Crown
Sustainability
Important issues
Packaging

Packaging strategy

Packaging strategy

At Danish Crown, we are committed to delivering exceptional food packaging solutions that prioritise food safety, reduce food waste, and minimise our carbon footprint through innovation and the best available technology.

In response to growing stakeholder interest, we finalised our packaging strategy in 2022, outlining clear targets in four key areas:

  • Reduction
  • Recyclable materials
  • Recycled content
  • Certification

These are further described below and you can find an overview of our progress towards our targets in our Annual Report.

Our four key areas

Packaging volume

Target:

We aim to reduce our packaging volume by 30% per tonne produced by 2029/30.

Our commitment to reducing packaging volume is crucial for our sustainability ambitions. While packaging is essential for preserving the freshness and safety of our products, we are dedicated to minimising its environmental impact.

Our four key areas

Packaging recyclability

Target

We aim to ensure that 100% of our packaging materials are recyclable by 2029/30.

Beyond reducing waste, a fundamental aspect of our packaging strategy is that all packaging we employ must be recyclable. Achieving recyclability is crucial to optimising resource utilisation and to enable a circular economy, and we are therefore striving for 100% of our products to be packed in recyclable materials by 2029/30. We also aim to educate consumers on the importance of packaging functionality, proper sorting in a circular economy context, and minimising food waste through thoughtful packaging usage and disposal.

Our four key areas

Recycled content

Target

We aim to ensure that 60% of our plastic packaging materials are made from post-consumer recycled content by 2029/30.

Our vision extends to actively contributing to the development of a more circular economy for food packaging materials. Therefore, we are working towards incorporating 60% recycled content into all our packaging by 2030.

Our four key areas

Certification

Target

We aim to use 100% certified fibre packaging by 2024/25.

Responsible forestry practices are important to Danish Crown. We are committed to sourcing paper-based packaging materials that are certified. More concretely, our target is that all our paper-based packaging materials are to have a FSC, FSC MIX or equivalent certification by 2024/25. We have already come a long way, as this has been a priority for some time now and because our preferred suppliers work to meet the same standard.

Focus on implementation and cooperation

Our commitment to responsible packaging extends throughout our value chain, encompassing all packaging materials, from plastic to metal and paper based. To achieve our targets, we rely not only on our internal efforts but also on external factors such as technological advancements, material availability, regulatory developments, and national waste-sorting systems. We actively engage with suppliers to co-create innovative packaging solutions and materials.

To facilitate the implementation of our strategy, we have established a Packaging Committee responsible for securing resources, endorsing major initiatives, and overseeing performance. We base our efforts on data and analytics and work to ensure that the initiatives are coordinated on a group level.

Our six packaging principles

Our six packaging principles, listed in order of priority, guide us in the implementation of our strategy:

  1. We will not compromise on food safety, shelf life or the quality of our products when implementing new packaging.
  2. We will not implement new packaging if it increases the likelihood of food being wasted anywhere in our supply chain by our customers or consumers.
  3. We will reduce the amount of packaging materials as well as the complexity of packaging materials in our operations.
  4. We want to actively stimulate the reuse of packaging materials and increase the use of recycled materials in our packaging.
  5. We aim for recyclability – either circular or spiral – and we will actively increase the amount of recyclable packaging.
  6. We want to actively engage with customers and consumers on the importance of food waste prevention, recyclability and separating practices.