MARS DRINKS has introduced a new look and a more sustainable design for its single-serve packaging workplace drinks – called Freshpacks – with a 31 percent carbon footprint reduction. MARS DRINKS is the workplace focused division of Mars, Incorporated.
“Our single most important sustainability priority over the next five years is solving the waste challenge for workplaces around the world that choose MARS DRINKS,” said Xavier Unkovic, global president, MARS DRINKS. “Our new packaging represents meaningful progress toward our goal of becoming the most sustainable workplace drinks solution by 2020.”
Now available in North America, the packaging’s 31 percent reduced carbon footprint is based on data from an independent “Life Cycle Assessment” that analyzed the environmental impact of the packaging across all stages of production – from raw material extraction through distribution.
MARS DRINKS commissioned WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, Montreal, one of the world’s leading engineering firms, to conduct the assessment according to international standards (ISO 14044:2006 Life Cycle Assessment).
“Increasingly, people at work want to know they have chosen a sustainable workplace drinks solution,” said Samantha Veide, global director, corporate sustainable solutions, MARS DRINKS. “Customers have told us their number one sustainability issue when it comes to workplace drinks solutions is solving the packaging challenge. That’s why we placed such a priority on rethinking our Freshpack design.”
MARS DRINKS considered “upstream” environmental factors in creating the new design. As part of that approach, the company re-examined the whole Freshpack production process and identified the raw material extraction of aluminum was the most significant contributor to the carbon footprint of the raw materials in the pack. By removing aluminum, MARS DRINKS reduced emissions from the raw material extraction by 40 percent. The new packaging maintains its predecessor’s benefits, including proprietary brewing technology to preserve freshness and eliminate flavor cross-over from one drink to the next.
MARS DRINKS will also continue its Recycle Your Freshpacks program, offering North American customers an easy way to divert 100 percent of Freshpacks from landfills.
“The new Freshpack is just the latest step in our ongoing journey to resolve the waste challenge for our customers,” said Veide, who added MARS DRINKS is committed to ongoing innovation to further limit the impact of single-serve waste as they move towards achieving their 2020 sustainability goals.
MARS DRINKS produces the new packaging for the North American market at its West Chester, PA factory. MARS, Incorporated invested in a wind farm in Texas, which generates the equivalent amount of energy required to power all of MARS, Incorporated’s operations in the U.S., including the MARS DRINKS campus.
Guided by the sustainability commitments of its parent company, Mars, Incorporated, MARS DRINKS is focusing its 2016-2020 sustainability initiatives in three areas: sustainable agriculture, sustainable operations, and sustainable solutions. The company will continue to incorporate sustainability at every stage of its value chain, from the raw materials purchased, to the factories where products are made, to the consumables and technologies they deliver, to the world’s workplaces.
