As part of the “Collection 2025” project, Emmi – together with more than 70 organisations along the entire value chain, from producers to retailers and waste disposal companies – is working on a circular economy for plastic packaging and beverage cartons. For Emmi, this is an important step towards achieving its ambitious sustainability goals, making packaging 100% recyclable and closing material loops by 2027.
“Since the start of our long-standing commitment to sustainability, we have avoided wasting raw materials and pursued the vision of closed cycles as far as possible. With ‘Collection 2025’, we are actively driving the circular economy forward and making an important contribution to climate protection,” says Gerold Schatt, Head of Sustainability at the Emmi Group.
Building on the “Pact” signed in 2022 to close loops for plastic packaging and beverage cartons, Emmi and other stakeholders are going one step further and have now set out specific principles for the future system in a letter of intent (LoI). The aim is to achieve standardisation by having just one collection bag throughout Switzerland. The costs are to be covered by bag contributions, contributions from distributors and recycling revenues. An umbrella organisation is responsible for the collection and recycling system, which oversees the processes and is geared towards an overarching target system including defined recycling rates of 55% for plastic packaging and 70% for beverage cartons by 2030 and CO2 reduction paths in line with EU targets.
Together with the public sector and all signatories to the LoI, Emmi is committed to achieving a nationwide and standardised collection system in the near future. At the same time, Emmi will make sure that its packaging is designed in accordance with the “Design for Recycling” principle, so that as much recycled material as possible is supplied as high-quality recyclate.
