All 500-gramme buckets of Tommies snack vegetables are now made from 100% rPET, meaning they are made from 100% recycled and recyclable material. In 2018, Greenco introduced Mini Toppers, Tommies Good to Go and cups of Tommies snack vegetables in a completely recycled packaging under their Tommies brand at Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo. The impact is considerable: an additional reduction of as much as 42,000 kilos of plastic is realised per year just by Jumbo, and in total, about six million PET bottles are recycled every year for the manufacture of these packaging.
Left to right: Robert Ketelarij, CEO Greenco, Ton van den Hoek, Senior Manager Fresh Produce and Jan Walta, Key Account Manager Jumbo for The Greenery.
Jumbo, The Greenery and Greenco worked together intensely in order to switch to completely recycled PET, or rPET. the rPET packaging are made from reused PET and have 70 to 80% less CO2 emissions than conventional PET packaging, realising an important step in making packaging material more sustainable. The decision for a recyclable solution is in line with advice from the KIDV (Netherlands Institute for Sustainable Packaging).
CEO Robert Ketelarij is proud of making the packaging within Greenco, including the Tommies snack vegetable assortment, more sustainable. “The choice for the sustainable packaging fits seamlessly with our ambition to become a prominent player for sustainability in horticulture. Corporate social responsibility is our guiding principle for sustainable growth. To this end, we’re constantly innovating and working with partners from within and outside of our branch, so that everyone can enjoy healthy snack vegetables.”
The first rPET buckets are now available at Jumbo. Ton van den Hoek, Senior Manager Fresh Produce for Jumbo Supermarkets is happy with this. “We care about our world. That’s why Jumbo works on reducing plastic waste and reducing our plastic footprint. We’re always looking for ways to reduce our packaging or making it more sustainable in close cooperation with our suppliers. We’re therefore pleased that our regular snack vegetable supplier Greenco now offers all of their Tommies snack vegetables in a sustainable packaging.”
Jan Walta, key account manager Jumbo for The Greenery is happy with the introduction. “We’re striving for a supply chain that’s as sustainable as possible. Packaging play an important part in this. We’re proud to work together with progressive growers like Greenco, which is continually innovating in their snack vegetable segment, and we’re happy with the cooperation with Jumbo to make the supply chain more sustainable. These efforts are contributing to a sustainable society.”