Mars Inc. is warning that it does not expect to meet previously made sustainability commitments in 2025.
The McLean, Va.-based maker of food for both humans and pets said in a new sustainability report that the percentage of packaging "designed for circularity" increased from 57 percent in 2022 to 61 percent in 2023.
But the company is a signatory to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global commitments, which call for 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
"We are investing millions of dollars to improve the recyclability of our packaging, increase the amount of food-safe recycled content and reduce the use of virgin plastic," the company reports.
Mars characterizes its work as "making good progress, and we would expect that to continue to accelerate."
"However, the design and infrastructure changes needed are taking longer than we anticipated when we signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitments, and we are unlikely to fully meet them by the end of 2025," the report states.
Mars, which produces such well-known candy brands as M&Ms, Skittles and Snickers, said compensation for more than 400 senior leaders is now linked to packaging sustainability targets." That's up from 300 mentioned in the previous sustainability report.
The company uses 210,000 metric tons of plastics each year for the company's consumer-facing business, so the material is "a major focus for us," the report states.
"In many parts of the world, there is a lack of sufficient infrastructure for recycling flexible plastics, and we are working with governments and [nongovernmental organizations] to address this, while also exploring redesign or alternative packaging formats," the company said.
Part of that work includes a move from multi-material plastic packaging to single resin applications. Mars also is looking to transition from plastics to paper or compostable packaging for some products. The company already has made the switch from multi-material plastics to just polypropylene for 75 million bags of pet food. The company's pet food brands include Iams, Nutro, Pedigree and Whiskas.
Mars also recently received attention for a widespread switch to paper wrappers for Mars, Snickers and Milky Way candy bars in Australia, a move that allows the packaging to move through curbside recycling programs. There's also been pilot programs for paper for certain product wrappers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Kenya and China.
Mars, in the company's 2022 sustainability report, indicated the company was investing "hundreds of millions of dollars and redesigning more than 12,000 packaging components" as part of the work to reach the 100 percent market for recycling, reuse or composting.
Mars, a private company, exceeded sales of more than $50 billion for the first time in company history in 2023.
"Running a financially fit and a sustainable business are not two mutually exclusive things. In fact, they are self-reinforcing in my opinion," CEO Poul Weihrauch said opening remarks in the newest sustainability report.
"This is not easy, and I'm not pretending we have all the answers. We are living in complex times, and we have to step up and deliver together in order to achieve a more sustainable future for all," he said.