Mondi & UN World Food Programme help to address food waste

As the World Food Programme (WFP) works to end hunger and help communities achieve food security, fit-for-purpose packaging can play an important role—considering the challenge of delivering nutritious food over a long and complex humanitarian supply chain—while reducing food waste and the impact of packaging on the environment.

• The three-year, US$1 million partnership aims to improve quality standards for WFP's packaging while minimizing environmental impacts by drawing on Mondi's leading packaging expertise and a financial contribution.

• Mondi's extensive packaging capabilities and R&D infrastructure will enable the partnership to explore sustainable packaging solutions without compromising on essential functionality, critical in WFP operations

• The partnership supports efforts towards Sustainable Development Goals 2 (zero hunger), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 17 (partnerships)

Mondi Group, a leading global packaging, and paper company, recently announced a three-year strategic partnership to support the United Nations World Food Programme's (WFP's) efforts to save lives, change lives around the globe.

The collaboration will see Mondi make a US$1 million in-kind and financial contribution to help WFP improve how it delivers nutritious food over a complex humanitarian supply chain, reduce food waste and mitigate the impact of packaging on the environment. The partnership will draw on the infrastructure, knowledge, and expertise from Mondi's corrugated solutions, paper bags, and consumer flexibles businesses.

Over the next three years, the goal is to develop robust and effective guidance for WFP's global food manufacturers and local suppliers, and the wider humanitarian community. Ultimately, the partnership aims to design and develop more sustainable packaging to protect food better and maintain its quality. It is subject to a wide variety of storage, transport, and handling challenges in different climates.

"One-third of the world's food is currently wasted each year. That's enough food to feed 2 billion people, the equivalent populations of Africa and Europe combined. We are delighted to partner with the World Food Programme in this unique collaboration to help improve food distribution and thereby impact world hunger, one of the most pressing problems facing the world today. Mondi has a long and successful history of working with partners to solve sustainability challenges with packaging that is sustainable by design. We are keen to use our wide packaging expertise to help make quality food accessible to those in need," Andrew King, Group chief executive officer of Mondi said.

Tim Hunter, director of Private Partnerships and Fundraising at WFP, added, "Each year, the World Food Programme reaches 100 million people with life-saving and life-changing food assistance. Working across the globe in often difficult environments, we rely on dedicated partners like Mondi to help create innovative solutions to the complex challenges we face every day. Collaborations like this are critical to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, and we are excited to see this partnership take shape and benefit the people we serve."

Mondi is a global leader in packaging and paper, contributing to a better world by making innovative packaging and paper solutions sustainable by design. The company's business is fully integrated across the value chain – from managing forests and producing pulp, paper, and plastic films, to developing and manufacturing effective industrial and consumer packaging solutions. Sustainability is at the center of its strategy and intrinsic in the way they do business.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. It is one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.