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A long-standing commitment
::Groupe DANONE has always been a pioneer in the promotion of recycling. In the 1970s, it initiated litter collection campaigns such as "Vacances Propres" in France.
The aim was to encourage tourists to adopt environmentally friendly gestures by picking up their litter and putting it in easy to find litter bins. DANONE has also invested in more than 20 organisations in France specialised in recycling packaging.
Six years ago, DANONE decided to go one step further by taking action at the source of the problem; reducing by 10% the overall weight of product packaging over 10 years. Each subsidiary has to ensure that packaging gets lighter for identical product weight. Results have been very encouraging, especially for flagship products. In just a few years, the weight of an Actimel bottle has fallen from 11 to 6.5 grams and that of an Evian bottle from 43 to 30 grams.
Progress has been made possible by substantial investments and major technological breakthroughs, including yogurt cartons made from foam plastic containing more air bubbles and less solid material. DANONE is now on course to meet its target of reducing packaging weight by 5% over five years.
