MONDELĒZ INTERNATIONAL Joins U.S. Plastic Pact, Committing to meet ambitious circular economy goals by 2025

Mondelēz International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative, solutions-driven initiative rooted in four ambitious goals intended to drive systemic change by bringing together a diverse group of participants from different sectors to work together on creating scalable solutions that can pave the way for a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025.

The first North American Pact of its kind, the U.S. Pact is a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

As part of the U.S. Pact, activators like Mondelēz International recognize that significant, systemwide change is imperative to realize a circular economy for plastics. As such, the U.S. Pact will convene more than 70 brands, retailers, NGOs, and government agencies across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to U.S. packaging through coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products, packaging, and business models.

“We believe that sector-wide initiatives, in collaboration with government, are key to reducing the impact of packaging on our planet,” said Christine Montenegro McGrath, Vice President and Chief of Sustainability and Global Impact at Mondelēz International. “In joining The U.S. Plastics Pact, we are proud to continue to be a part of collectively advancing a unified approach to creating scalable solutions for a circular economy for plastics in the United States.”

As a founding Activator of the U.S. Plastics Pact, Mondelēz International has agreed to collectively deliver against these four ambitious goals:

1. Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025. ​
2. By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable. ​
3. By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
4. By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%. ​

While the U.S. Pact is complementary to, and follows the ambitious precedents set by the existing global network of Plastic Pacts, it will be tailored to meet the unique needs and challenges of the U.S. market. The Pact will reflect national priorities and realities, while still propelling the nation closer to other developed nations in its management of plastic waste.

“Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Sarah Dearman, Vice President of Circular Ventures for The Recycling Partnership. “The U.S. Pact will accelerate systemwide change by inspiring and supporting upstream innovation through a coordinated national strategy, creating a unified framework and enabling members to accelerate progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.”

Achieving this vision will require new levels of accountability from all facets of the plastics supply chain. The U.S. Pact emphasizes measurable change and as such, Mondelēz International is committed to transparent, annual reporting, guided by WWF’s ReSource: Plastic Footprint Tracker, which will be used to document annual progress against our four goals. The first task of the founding members of the U.S. Plastics Pact will be to establish a “roadmap” in Q1 2021 to identify key milestones and national solutions to achieving the U.S. targets and realize a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste.

The announcement marks an important step forward in Mondelēz International’s ambition to create positive impact for people and planet and achieve zero-net waste packaging. As part of a long-term commitment to reduce environmental impact, the company set 2025 packaging innovation targets to ensure 100% of packaging is designed to be recycled, contains on-pack recycling information and contributes to the company’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions. Today, 93% of the company’s total packaging, both plastic and non-plastic, including packaging of iconic snack brands Toblerone and belVita, are designed to be recycled. And beyond this significant progress the announcement advances the company’s leadership role in calling for and participating in sector-wide collaboration to identify and scale up innovation, harmonize packaging formats to make recycling easier and improve waste management infrastructure. 

Solidaridad virtually trains 250 community extension officers in Sierra Leone

Solidaridad has trained 250 community extension officers to provide quality extension services to 21,600 cocoa, cashew and coffee farmers in Sierra Leone through a partly virtual and physical classroom approach.

Participants getting hands-on experience in the field

The two-week training, which was offered via the Google Hangouts platform, focused on good nursery practices, transplanting of cocoa and cashew seedlings, and intercropping cash crops with food crops to help bridge the food insecurity gap.

To adhere to the physical distancing protocol and guarantee the safety of the participants, the classrooms were set up in nine different locations across 12 districts, bringing together an average of 28 participants in each centre. The centres were equipped with giant screens, bluetooth speakers, fast internet connectivity, and adequate fuel to power generator sets.

Using the Google Hangouts platform, Solidaridad agronomists facilitated the training from Ghana and Liberia, with support from a cashew consultant who facilitated from Freetown, and supervised by local agronomists in all nine training centres.

“Providing extension support services to vulnerable farmers and their communities have become necessary during this pandemic to ensure farming activities do not stall, hence the use of digital tools by Solidaridad. By this, we will continue to provide critical information to personnel in direct contact with farmers,” says Nicholas Jengre, country representative for Solidaridad in Sierra Leone.

The 250 participants were trained on nursery establishment and management, field transplanting and management of established plantations, integrated crop and pest management and climate-smart practices for cocoa, coffee and cashew as part of the first module of the training.

The second module, which focuses on harvesting, post-harvest management, quality enhancement and marketing of cocoa, coffee and cashew, will be conducted in September 2020 as the final phase before graduation of participants. 

The trainees who are now equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills have been tasked to establish Farmer Field Schools and carry out frontline extension services to support farmers, to augment Sierra Leone’s ministry of agriculture’s extension services.

Participant at one of the 12 training centres

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry does not have adequate human capacity to provide extension services to smallholder farmers in the country. We are, therefore, happy that Solidaridad has trained personnel who will equip farmers in dire need of extension services with new knowledge. This will certainly enhance the production of quality cash crops to increase our foreign exchange earnings,” says Samking Braima, deputy minister for agriculture and forestry.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-week training, Samking says Solidaridad continues to play a critical role in the government’s vision of making the agriculture sector the ‘engine’ to drive the country’s socio-economic growth and development. He, therefore, encouraged the participants to utilize the knowledge gained over the period to transform the cocoa, cashew and coffee landscape in Sierra Leone. As part of the training, the participants went on a mandatory field visit to have hands-on technical training in the field.

“The practical sessions were great; what I was taught virtually, I was able to see it implemented in the field. We have over 1,500 women farmers in my community, and it is now my duty to pass on to them what Solidaridad has taught us. I believe this would improve our yield,” says Mimi Pabai, a farmer and a leader of a women’s farmer group.

Participants were drawn from 12 districts where Solidaridad is implementing the Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP), funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra, Ghana and the Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS) project, funded by the European Union in Sierra Leone.

Aside from the training, Solidaridad has been supporting the government to step up public awareness on COVID-19. In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, through its District Health Management Teams, Solidaridad has supported the production of relevant information, education, and communication materials for dissemination to over 20,000 farmers in 300 local communities along with COVID-19 radio jingles in the country.

Mondelez International supports communities during COVID-19 crisis

Mondelēz International, Inc. on Monday announced it will donate $15 million in financial and in-kind support to community partners advancing critical food stability and emergency relief efforts across the world in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. 

• 

“Managing through and recovering from this global crisis will take everyone’s support and I am pleased we’re standing up to advance relief efforts around the world,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our purpose and values as a company are rooted in doing what’s right for our people and our communities and this $15 million global commitment will help further the impactful work of local community partners providing safety, security and assistance for the people who need it most.”

The company says support for this program will come from the Mondelēz International Foundation as well as global and local brand initiatives, adding that Mondelēz China has already donated approximately $1 million in cash and in-kind donation value to support relief efforts in the region, including the China Youth Development Foundation. Other local business unit efforts will follow.

The Mondelēz International Foundation connects with at-risk communities around the world to promote healthy lifestyles, working closely with public health and community partners by:Investing in community programs that promote active, healthy lifestyles to improve the lives of children and their families around the world.

SIERRA LEONE: Solidaridad launches new initiatives to transform cocoa and oil palm sectors

By Ahmed Sahid Nasralla (De Monk)

Mamie Vandy, a cocao farmer, dries her cocoa seeds in Benduman village near Daru

Solidaridad in Sierra Leone will on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 launch two major initiatives aimed at improving sustainable production of cocoa and oil palm in the country.

The Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP) and the Sustainable West Africa Oil Palm Programme (SWAPP) will support over 45,000 cocoa and oil palm farmers in Sierra Leone to improve their incomes and livelihoods. Moreover, the programmes will facilitate the creation of an enabling policy environment for service delivery to farmers through small and medium enterprises. The cocoa (CORIP) and oil palm (SWAPP) programmes are both funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra, Ghana and will run until December 2021.

Solidaridad West Africa is implementing cocoa and oil palm programmes in Sierra Leone guided by the organization’s experience in implementing similar interventions in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria since 2012. 

CORIP is centered on the large-scale adoption of the sustainable intensification of cocoa production through improved access to recommended inputs (improved planting material, agro chemicals, fertilizer, crop protection), extension and financial services. This will be done by facilitating the setting up and operation of service delivery enterprises known as the Farmer Support Centre (‘for beteh Cacao and Banga’) in Sierra Leone. This will be pursued by improving access to affordable finance and technical support for the establishment of service centres that will supply farmers with quality inputs and technical services for improved cocoa production.

SWAPP, on the other hand, aims at scaling up sustainable intensification of oil palm production and enhancing mill efficiency for processing of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) into crude palm oil. The programme will achieve this by facilitating access to finance for the establishment and operations of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to provide farm management services, promote investment in efficient palm oil processing mills and build capacity of farmers to adopt Best Management Practices (BMP) on their respective farms.

Both programmes will create opportunities for women and youth to actively participate in efforts to improve their livelihoods.

In Sierra Leone, CORIP is implemented in Kenema, Kailahun and Kono Districts, while SWAPP is implemented in Kenema and Kailahun Districts.

The two programmes are implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and our private sector partners – Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company, Tradin (SL) Ltd, FT Saad and Randlyn Holdings (SL) Ltd.

The launch of CORIP and SWAPP will take place at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel, Freetown and will be attended by about 200 participants made up of government institutions, smallholder cocoa and oil palm farmers, service providers, development partners, financial institutions the media, among others.

Solidaridad has built a reputation as a catalyzer for sustainable innovations in commodity supply chains in the past 50 years. Their goal is to improve livelihoods for vulnerable producers, while respecting the planet, each other and the next generation. As an international development organization, Solidaridad operates on five continents through eight Regional Expertise Centre’s (RECs) and focuses on producing more with less and ensuring it is done in a way that is good for people and the environment. In West Africa, Solidaridad operates in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. They are currently managing various programmes and projects in sustainable production of cocoa, oil palm, maize and gold in the focus countries.

Mondelēz International Appoints Sandra MacQuillan as Executive Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain

Mondelēz International on Thursday announced Sandra MacQuillan as Executive Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain, and be responsible for the oversight of the company’s global procurement, manufacturing, engineering, and customer service and logistics groups.   

Sandra MacQuillan

In this role, she will be responsible for the oversight of the company’s global procurement, manufacturing, engineering, and customer service and logistics groups.  She will report directly to Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and will be a member of the Mondelēz International Leadership Team effective June 10.  MacQuillan succeeds Daniel Myers, who announced his intention to retire and will remain with the company for a period of transition.

“We are very excited to welcome Sandra to Mondelēz International.  She brings a wealth of international expertise in sustainable supply chain and technology strategy, with vast experience in packaged goods at global companies where she has built world-class supply chain capabilities,” said Van de Put.  “Her leadership and experience will be a tremendous asset as we continue to harness new technology to drive productivity and leverage the strength of our supply chain as a competitive advantage across our global network.”

Van de Put continued, “I want to thank Daniel for his many contributions to our company over the past eight years, including his leadership role in transforming and modernizing our global supply chain.  We wish him all the best in his retirement.” 

MacQuillan joins the company from Kimberly-Clark Corporation, where she was Chief Supply Chain Officer and Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, and had global responsibility for procurement, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, quality and regulatory, safety and sustainability since 2015.  Prior to Kimberly-Clark Corporation, she spent more than 20 years at Mars Incorporated in a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibility and was most recently Global Vice President, Supply for Mars Global Petcare.  She has extensive emerging markets experience and has led operations in Africa, Central Europe, the Czech Republic, India and the Middle East.  MacQuillan began her career at ExxonMobil, where she held positions in industrial engineering, sales, manufacturing and business development. 

“I am excited to join Mondelēz International at this important time as the company continues to execute on its new long-term growth strategy under Dirk Van de Put,” said MacQuillan.  “I have long admired Mondelēz International for its leadership position in global snacking, its strong portfolio of brands and its extensive international footprint, and I look forward to working with the team and its partners across the global supply chain network.”

MacQuillan currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of TRIMBLE, Inc., Executive Advisory Board of Supply Chain Management World (SCM World), and the Board of Trustees of Atlanta International School.  She has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Greenwich, UK and was awarded Chartered Engineer status from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London.  She is a fellow in both The Institute of Mechanical Engineers and The Royal Society of Arts.  

Mondelēz International to make all packaging recyclable by 2025

Mondelēz International has set up goals to reduce environmental impact by committing to make all packaging recyclable by 2025, according to the company’s 2018 Impact Progress Report released today.

Mondelēz International to make all packaging recyclable by 2025

The goals include creating a future where people and planet thrive by creating resilient ingredient supply chains, reducing environmental impact and developing zero-net waste packaging; maintained 100 percent RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) palm oil goal; and challenged suppliers to act faster to eliminate deforestation, with 12 upstream suppliers excluded as a result of breaches; and reduced absolute CO2 emissions from manufacturing by 10 percent.

The report highlights how the world’s leading snacking company met a major well-being target, achieving 15 percent of net revenue from portion control snacks, two years ahead of expectations. The significant progress Mondelēz International continues to deliver against its Impact goals demonstrates the company’s mission to lead the future of snacking by creating snacks the right way for both people and planet.

The report also describes advancements against Mondelēz International’s 2020 sustainable agriculture and environmental footprint goals to combat deforestation while protecting land rights and human rights and scale these efforts in areas where they can have the greatest positive impact.

In addition to sourcing 43 percent of cocoa for Chocolate brands through the company’s signature cocoa sustainability program, Cocoa Life, in 2018, the company has continued to play a significant role in creating a sustainable palm oil supply chain by accelerating action against plantation companies contributing to deforestation.

“We believe that consumers should not have to choose between snacking and eating right, or to worry about the impact their snacking choices have on the world and their communities,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International. “Our company is playing a significant role in making snacking both sustainable and mindful by creating a future where people and planet thrive, and evolving our portfolio to inspire mindful snacking habits. I’m proud of our progress in 2018, particularly in well-being snacks where we were able to reach a major goal ahead of schedule.”

Mondelēz International Commits to Secure 100 Percent Cocoa Volume for All Chocolate Brands through its Cocoa Life Sustainability Program by 2025

Mondelēz International today announced its commitment that by 2025 the Cocoa Life sustainability program will deliver 100 percent of the cocoa volume needed for the company’s Chocolate brands, following promising results in the program’s first six years. Cocoa Life helps to create a thriving cocoa supply chain by increasing yields on existing farms, building resilience in cocoa-growing communities and preventing deforestation.

Today, 43 percent of Mondelēz International’s Chocolate brands source cocoa through Cocoa Life. By 2025, beloved international brands and local favorites including Toblerone and Lacta will join Milka, Côte d’Or and Cadbury Dairy Milk in sourcing exclusively through the program. This expansion will see an increase in the number of farmers and communities Mondelēz International supports across six cocoa origin countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, India and Brazil.

“Our Purpose at Mondelēz International is to empower people to snack right and that journey begins with the ingredients we source, including cocoa,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dirk Van de Put. “As demand for chocolate continues to grow, we are leading the transformation to build a thriving cocoa sector, an ingredient essential to our growth. This is an important milestone for our Cocoa Life program and will ensure more consumers around the world can be confident that the chocolate brands they love are made the right way.”

When the program launched in 2012, Mondelēz International committed $400 million to Cocoa Life over 10 years to help build a thriving cocoa supply chain by increasing cocoa productivity and empowering local cocoa farming communities to improve their resilience. Today, the program works directly with cocoa farmers and communities to transform their livelihoods through a focus on skills, education and access to essential resources such as planting materials and crop protection.

Today, Mondelēz International also released Cocoa Life’s 2018 Annual Report, the first-ever large-scale impact report in the cocoa industry, which shows encouraging results from the first six years of the program. The program works with over 142,000 farmers to grow more cocoa on their farms, empowers more than 1,400 communities to drive their own development and scaled up sourcing to cover 43 percent of the company’s Chocolate made today.

The report shows that Cocoa Life is having a positive impact:

• Cocoa yields are continuously improving and results show that as cocoa farms become more efficient, their yield increases. This is an important development, as farms that can do more with less land are able to create spare land that can be used for other income-generating activities, helping make cocoa farming a prosperous business.
• More communities are steering their own development and Cocoa Life communities can become drivers of change. Through the use of planning and advocacy tools, these communities have been able to attract the funding and resources needed to develop — an important step because sector change will only be sustained if local actors feel empowered to do so.
• Farmers are choosing not to expand into protected forests and encouraging and enabling cocoa farmers and communities to protect the land where cocoa is grown has been fundamental to the Cocoa Life approach. Mapping efforts and tools support farmers in understanding how to get more out of their farms – helping them build better businesses.

Guided by results, the program will refine its focus to key areas of intervention where the biggest impact can be made; cocoa farming as a prosperous business of choice; empowered and inclusive communities that drive their own development; conservation and restoration of forests enabling climate-resilient practices.

“The expansion of Cocoa Life moves Mondelēz International a step closer to improving the positive impact the company has on people and the planet,” Van de Put said. “Through Cocoa Life, we are leading the way in the fight against climate change in the cocoa sector and playing an active role in securing sustainable supplies of key raw materials. “

“Success will not be found by acting alone, and this is why we are building a movement for lasting change and scaling our holistic approach through productive, collaborative partnerships,” he added. “We hope our encouraging results inspire more industry members to implement integrated approaches and broaden their impact at scale.”

About Mondelēz International