2023 ESG Report
Our approach to plastics
We are assessing the use of plastic in our business to reduce or eliminate it wherever we can. Our efforts are centered around three distinct and complementary pillars:
Eliminate What We Can
Better Manage What We Use
Invest in Research and Community Clean Ups
Canada Plastics Pact
In 2020, we helped create and became a founding member of the Canada Plastics Pact, part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Plastics Pact network. Coalition partners share the vision of changing from a linear take-make-waste system to a more circular plastic packaging economy.
The goal is to improve landfill diversion rates, while increasing the quality and quantity of recycled material. The Pact brings together government, retail and consumer brands, resin makers, recyclers and experts up and down the value chain, to make better packaging decisions that support a circular economy.
Golden Design Rules
Established by the world’s largest retail and consumer goods companies, the Golden Design Rules set high standards for packaging design, by reducing materials and eliminating problematic elements. We believe in these rules and have communicated them to our hundreds of control brand vendors, outlining our new Loblaw packaging standards and highlighting the global rules.
We have established a roadmap to convert the balance of our control brand and in-store plastic packaging products in the coming years.
In-store initiatives
¹ excludes T&T®
Reduce, reuse, recycle
We overhauled the coffee aisle by replacing unrecyclable packaging made with a minimum of 80% paper content from renewable, recyclable and sustainable Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) sourced tree fibres.
100% of our President’s Choice®, no name® and PC® Organics whole bean and ground coffee products are in recyclable packaging.
Plus, our industry leading PC® coffee packaging earned a 2022 Global Packaging Award for Package Innovation and Sustainable Design.
Eliminating plastic bags
In 2023, we celebrated the final exit of plastic bags in our stores, signifying the end of a 15-year journey started in 2007 when we implemented our pay-for-bag program to help reduce plastic waste.
Minimizing plastics across our operations
To improve recycle-ready components of our packaging, in 2021 we started transitioning mushroom trays from black or blue plastic to beige. In 2023, we continued that transition to clear PET allowing for greater detectability in the recycling stream. This transition will be completed in 2024. In 2023, this resulted in 39.9 million better mushroom trays going into the recycling stream.
We also started a transition of our meat and seafood trays from expanded polystyrene to clear rPET, again allowing for greater detectability in the recycling stream. In 2023, 35.9 million trays were made from better plastic and we plan to complete the transition for all meat and seafood trays in 2024.
In 2023, Quo Beauty® made significant strides in reducing plastic use by introducing 40 new products that feature eco-friendly packaging with a reduced plastic footprint. Quo Beauty® converted their bath poufs to 100% recycled mesh, eliminating the use of approximately 100 metric tonnes of virgin plastic annually. In addition, Quo Beauty® launched their natural cosmetics line as part of the “More Planet Love” campaign, which uses components made with at least 30% post consumer recycled (PCR) materials and formulated with a minimum of 70% naturally derived ingredients.
Funding research for better plastic outcomes
Since 2021, we have partnered with Ocean Wise, a global, ocean conservation organization that addresses overfishing, ocean pollution and climate change.
