| dc.description.abstract | The concern regarding sustainability issues have been increasingly growing and have been influencing the way business is done. This case study was conducted with Tetra Pak, a processing and beverage and food packaging multinational. Wanting to improve the sustainability strategy throughout the supply chain, Tetra Pak focused on improving the relationship with its retailers, since by deciding which products will be sold, they have power to influence the entire supply chain and drive consumers towards a more sustainable choice.
To do so, it was vital to understand the retailers’ perspective on sustainable development, including their current practices and aims for the future, and also their views on beverage/food packaging and its environmental impacts. The research was carried out with Dutch and Belgian retailers and was assessed by online research and by semi-structured interviews about their sustainability practices and aims on reduction of carbon emission, energy and packaging usage. Inputs from consumers and producers were also integrated by an online survey and informal interviews, respectively. A literature review on sustainability concepts and life cycle assessment of different beverage packaging was compared to the results retrieved with retailers. The views of producers and consumers were also analyzed in this research considering its relevance for retailers.
Most retailers mentioned the Sustainable Development Goals when talking about their sustainability strategy and their aims to reduce CO2 emissions and packaging use, especially plastic. The life cycle assessments results are practically unanimous regarding the impacts of primary packaging options, pointing beverage carton as the lowest environmental impact for all impact’s categories, except land use, since over 70% of the packaging is consistent of paper from wood fiber.
The results show that there are still misconceptions regarding the impacts of beverage packaging options from all stakeholders which is seen as one of the main barriers in choosing the most sustainable option. The initial concept that retailers are the main decision-makers of packaging choice was actually transferred to producers and suppliers. This is the perception of the retailers themselves who understanding producers and suppliers know more about packaging, want to improve the upstream of the supply chain. The final part of this report has recommendations on how Tetra Pak can improve the sustainability strategy throughout the supply chain retrieved from the findings of this report. | |
