CP Group cutting plastic that’s not recyclable, compostable

Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) has initiated its sustainable packaging policy, which is designed to reduce and eliminate plastic use.

Under the new policy, all of the plastic packaging the company uses must be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

Suphachai Chearavanont, CP Foods CEO, stated in a press release that the company recognizes the importance and necessity of tackling the issue of plastic waste, which it considers to be a major global problem.

As plastics are key packaging material for numerous products, the dependency on plastics has therefore led to the plastic pollution problem which CP Group believes requires urgent solutions.

The new policy is committed to protect the environment and create public engagement towards positive behavioral change through the 5Rs framework: Re-educate consumers and raise awareness about plastic waste; Reduce plastic consumption; Recycle plastics; Replace with alternative materials and; Reinvent through research and development.

The policy’s guidelines are:

1. Re-educate consumers and raise awareness towards behavioral change for sustainability, for example, trash segregation, plastic recycling, plastic consumption reduction and replacement of plastic bags with reusable shopping bags
2. Engage in public advocacy to drive policies and regulations that create an environment for plastic consumption reduction
3. Use 100 percent reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging
4. Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign and/or reinvention while ensuring business feasibility
5. Reduce the need for single-use plastic packaging and make changes towards a reusable plastics model
6. Make sure that all plastic packaging are free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected
7. Make meaningful investment into businesses, technologies, or other assets that work to realize the vision of a circular economy for plastic
8. Collaborate with all related parties domestically and internationally towards increasing reuse/recycling/composting rates for plastic
9. Report annually and publicly on progress towards meeting these commitments