Danone goes green with packaging

To meet its corporate objective of reducing its carbon footprint by 30 per cent by 2012, Danone Canada announced two innovations in packaging.

The first features a new ecological manufacturing process for its individual serving products, called "expansion”; second, the use of an ecological high-density polyethylene (bioplastic) for its drinkable yogurt packaging made from sugar cane instead of hydrocarbon.

"These bold environmental initiatives, which are in line with our mission and our objectives for reducing our carbon footprint, have made us completely rethink our product packaging in the interest of the environment and well-being of our consumers," said Anne-Julie Maltais, manager of external communications for Danone.

The expansion process reduces the overall density of the plastic about 18 per cent due to an inert agent in the polystyrene plastic that forms a thin layer of foam. The weight of the individual serving packages of Activia, Stonyfield, Silhouette and Creamy brands is reduced by the same percentage.

This process has been applied to 40 per cent of Danone’s individual serving yogurts, with complete integration by June 2011.

Meanwhile, the 100 per cent recyclable bioplastic packaging will reduce the CO2 footprint of Danone’s drinkable yogurt containers (DanActive, Danacol, Danino Go and Drinkable Activia) by 55 per cent.

"The packaging for Danone products accounts for 40% of our company's ecological footprint, and is the second most important factor in terms of emissions. That's why we've such devoted efforts in research and development," said Maltais.