Technological watch

Mars Wrigley, the maker of some of the world’s most beloved treats and snacks, and Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable materials, today announced a two-year partnership to develop an innovative home compostable packaging for a more sustainable planet.

Mars Wrigley will leverage the company’s global portfolio of iconic treats and snacks to enable consumers to compost at home, working together with consumers and supply-chain partners to support a healthy planet. The first brand Mars Wrigley will introduce SKITTLES® in the U.S., enabling consumers to enjoy delicious, fun and environmentally friendly treats.

Danimer Scientific’s signature packaging – Nodax® polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) – is produced through natural fermentation processes using plant oils such as soy and canola and biodegrades in both soil and marine environments. Mars will continue to evaluate opportunities to scale this novel, innovative and sustainable packaging technology across its portfolio of brands and categories.

Danimer Scientific and Mars Wrigley plan to introduce Nodax® PHA into flexible and rigid packaging that reliably breaks down in both industrial composting facilities and backyard compost units, offering an enhanced value proposition for environmentally conscious consumers and retailers. Sourced from the seeds of plants such as canola and soy, Nodax® PHA can serve as an alternative to traditional petrochemical plastic and has been certified as biodegradable in soil and marine environments. In addition to better end-of-life options, Nodax® PHA is renewably sourced, making it a truly circular material that helps eliminate waste.

Mars Wrigley’s Purpose is around better moments and more smiles, including a connected and caring world. This includes a connected supply chain that cares for our planet and supports Mars’ Sustainable in a Generation plan. The joint development agreement is a key component of Mars Wrigley’s comprehensive strategy to transform its packaging portfolio to support a circular economy and to drive progress against its goal of 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

For Mars Wrigley, collaborating with Danimer Scientific represents a step change for its packaging sustainability strategy and brings the business closer to its vision for a circular economy where no packaging becomes waste. As part of Mars, Incorporated’s $1B Sustainable in a Generation Plan to help create a healthier planet, Mars Wrigley is testing a range of material solutions in markets around the world, such as mono material and paper-based alternatives, to make incremental progress toward its goals.

The aim of this collaboration is new, biodegradable packaging for various Mars Wrigley brands, starting with smaller and single packs that are more likely to be littered and typically less likely to be recycled. Mars Wrigley is leaning into this problem by creating new-to-world packs for a wide range of formats that can significantly support a sustainable planet. Initial development work with kick off in North America with the goal of reaching additional markets with underdeveloped recycling infrastructures where littering and leakage into nature are especially problematic. Mars Wrigley’s first on-the-shelf offerings are tentatively targeted for late 2021 or early 2022, featuring their SKITTLES® brand in the U.S.

“The impact of plastic on nature is one of the major sustainability challenges of our generation. There are no simple solutions and transformational innovation is necessary, we have to think and act differently,” said Alastair Child, Mars Wrigley VP of Global Sustainability. “Collaborating with Danimer to advance this breakthrough technology represents a major step to creating positive societal impact and better environmental outcomes across the full lifecycle of small, flexible packaging.”

“Expectations for sustainable packaging vary from market to market, making it essential for new materials to be adaptable in meeting different standards without sacrificing quality,” said Stephen Croskrey, CEO at Danimer Scientific. “PHA provides a versatile platform for manufacturing material that is renewably sourced and leaves a minimal impact on the environment upon disposal. We look forward to working with Mars Wrigley in fighting the global crisis of plastic waste.”

For further information on Mars’ approach to sustainable packaging, visit https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/sustainable-packaging.

Danimer Scientific’s Nodax® PHA possesses six TUV AUSTRIA certifications of industrial and home compostability, is biodegradable in soil, fresh water and marine environments and is 100% biobased. All of Danimer Scientific’s biopolymers, including Nodax® PHA, are FDA approved for food contact.

About Mars, IncorporatedFor more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.

Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, BEN’S ORIGINAL™, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world’s pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™.

We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.

About Danimer ScientificDanimer Scientific is a pioneer in creating more sustainable, more natural ways to make plastic products. For more than a decade, our renewable and sustainable biopolymers have helped create plastic products that are biodegradable and compostable. They return to nature instead of polluting our lands and waters. Our technology can be found in a vast array of plastic end products that people use every day. Applications for our biopolymers include additives, aqueous coatings, fibers, filaments, films, hot-melt adhesives and injection-molded articles, among others. We now hold more than 150 granted patents and pending patent applications in more than 20 countries for a range of manufacturing processes and biopolymer formulations.

Source: Mars, press release, 2021-03-16.