Nature’s Fresh has been a favourite in Kiwi shopping baskets for generations, and we have an ambition to be a leader in the area of sustainability. We know we have a lot of work to do, but we have started and are excited to share these with you.
Nature’s Fresh brings recyclable cardboard bread tags to Kiwi shelves
Recyclable cardboard bread tags are used on all Nature’s Fresh loaves, buns and rolls.
As one of the country’s most popular bread brands, Nature’s Fresh has removed up to 15 million plastic bread tags from landfill each year. The cardboard bread tags on Nature’s Fresh loaves are recyclable*, and made from 100% recycled content, without any compromise on functionality – in fact, they are considerably less prone to the dreaded ‘snapping’ that can occur with plastic bread tags.
*Due to the size of the cardboard bread tag, they will need to be placed inside an envelope or any bigger paper/cardboard material, so that they can go through standard recycling facilities and be recycled.
Soft plastics recycling
We’re proud supporters of the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme, which aims to come up with ways to turn soft plastics into useful products, such as fence posts.
One of the challenges facing the initiative was returning the bundles of soft plastics from the South Island to the processing facility in Auckland. Our Nature’s Fresh team worked with the organisers on this logistical challenge, and came up with a solution! Since January 2021, we have transported the bundles using our network from Christchurch to Auckland.
There are now sites in Christchurch & Dunedin that are taking part in the scheme, and we’re looking into how we can help with logistics in other areas so other cities can join in.
We want more people to use the scheme and have placed an ambitious target of achieving a 1500% increase in Nature’s Fresh bread bags being recycled annually.
Renewable electricity
We are aiming to move all Nature’s Fresh bakeries to 100% renewable electricity, and have several sites participating in EECA’s Energy Transition Accelerator Program to develop road maps to zero emissions at each site.
We’ve worked with our electricity supplier, Meridian, to ensure that our electricity consumption is certified by the New Zealand Energy Certificate System (NZECS). It verifies that there is renewable electricity generation equivalent to our total consumption. Essentially, the electricity we use to make Nature’s Fresh is matched annually with energy generated using renewable sources (from Meridian’s hydro stations and wind farms).