Riverside Natural Foods’ efforts in mitigating plastic pollution

New York, June 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, rePurpose Global is thrilled to share that Riverside Natural Foods company, known for their iconic snack food brands MADEGOOD, Good To Go, and Cookie Pal, has hit a major milestone and has funded the collection of over 2 million pounds of low-value plastic waste in partnership with the plastic action platform.

Discerning the urgent need for a collective response to the global plastic waste crisis, Riverside Natural Foods joined forces with rePurpose Global in July 2021. Through this partnership, Riverside Natural Foods has funded the collection and ethical processing of 2 million pounds of low-value plastic waste, which is equivalent to over 50 million plastic bottles and over 180 million plastic bags. This initiative aims to prevent plastic waste from entering waterways, being openly burned, or ending up in landfills while simultaneously supporting the ethical employment of hundreds of waste workers. Furthermore, the initiative contributes to systemic change through the funding of long-term infrastructure and plastic waste supply chain development, as well as positive socioeconomic change and improved working conditions for waste workers. 

Due to the nature of their products, the CPG industry and packaged food and drink companies contribute a large portion of global plastic waste due to the prevalence of single-use plastic packaging. At Riverside Natural Foods, plastic packaging is used to provide barrier protection and preserve the product quality by protecting it from oxygen and moisture.
Riverside recognized that they needed to address the plastic packaging issue in their industry head-on. In 2021, they developed a sustainable packaging roadmap that more tangibly demonstrated their desire to shift from the standard framework of a “take, make, waste” approach to a “borrow, use, return” one,  setting a number of ambitious targets. To learn more you may download the brand’s sustainability report. 

Members of the Riverside team traveled to India in 2022 to participate in The Plastic Reality Project, an up-skilling initiative that gives a group of leading plastic action stakeholders the knowledge to help shape plastic reduction efforts in their respective fields. The Riverside team was aware of how much of a challenge plastic pollution is, with 91% of plastic waste globally not recycled. However, witnessing the harsh realities of plastic waste firsthand heightened their sense of responsibility and urgency, fueling their passion to drive positive change within the snack food industry. “You can read about [plastic waste], you can see statistics and numbers and get alarmed -absolutely. But this is a whole other level of reality, and the magnitude of it is very intense,” shared Salma Fotovat, Co-Founder and Sourcing and Procurement Director at Riverside. 

In 2022 alone, Riverside Natural Foods funded the recovery of 1.3 million pounds of ocean-bound and nature-bound plastic across three cities in India (Aurangabad, Kerala, and Goa), supported over 310 workers with increased incomes and social security, and provided over 43,000 households with formal waste management for the very first time. Creating recycling infrastructure in collaboration with waste worker communities is an impactful – and often overlooked – lever to reduce the flow of plastic into the natural environment. 
While Riverside Natural Foods celebrates these achievements, the company remains humble, recognizing that there is much more work to be done. According to the UN Environment Programme, to reach zero plastic pollution by 2040, there need to be stable and profitable recycling systems. Removing fossil fuel subsidies and enforcing design guidelines that enhance recyclability are critical steps toward realizing this vision. The snack food company is committed to driving industry-wide change by reducing the use of petroleum-based plastics in primary packaging by switching all applicable products to paper, sourcing bio-based plastics, actively supporting research and development in circular packaging solutions, and continuing to fund the recovery of existing nature-bound plastic waste. 

rePurpose Global invites all industry leaders, stakeholders, and consumers to join forces in the global effort to #BeatPlasticPollution. Together, we can make a meaningful difference and create a sustainable future for generations to come.

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ABOUT REPURPOSE GLOBAL

rePurpose Global is the world’s leading Plastic Action Platform, bringing together brands, consumers, innovators, and policymakers to collectively combat the plastic waste crisis. Through its pioneering solutions across the circular economy value chain, rePurpose has helped more than 300 companies measure and reduce their plastic footprints, while driving systems change on a global scale.
rePurpose Impact Projects have recovered over 33 million lbs of plastic waste from the environment to date, protecting vulnerable coastal regions across the Americas, Africa, and Asia. In doing so, the organization is delivering critically lacking waste management services to millions of people, while positively impacting the lives of thousands of marginalized waste workers worldwide.

Founded in 2016, rePurpose Global now employs over 70 full-time team members across offices in the US, UK, and India. For more information, please visit https://repurpose.global/.

ABOUT RIVERSIDE NATURAL FOODS 
Our vision at Riverside Natural Foods is to make a difference by creating healthy products of which we can be proud. We research, create, manufacture, market, and sell industry-leading and innovative products that offer healthier alternatives to all consumers.  We strive to be the hub for continuous innovation and creativity in healthy snacking. We believe in leaving things better than we found them.  Be it the environment we inhabit, the people we encounter, or the communities we work with. Our path to success runs through this belief system.  We’re proud to be a Certified B Corporation® and hold multiple Zero Waste certifications.

MadeGood products are manufactured and distributed by Riverside Natural Foods Ltd. www.madegoodfoods.com