As a beverage and food producer, Rougemont, Que.-based Lassonde is also a packaging company, and in its recently released sustainability report, it highlighted some key milestones in reducing excess waste. 

“Our sustainability initiatives are really aimed to reduce our environmental footprint. We also want to meet our different stakeholders’ expectations, including our customers, consumers, regulatory entities,” Pascale Blais-Giroux, senior director of sustainability and regulatory affairs at Lassonde, said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

Topping this effort was the announcement that the firm reached 25 per cent recycled content in its one- and two-litre bottles in Canada, as well as in various formats in the U.S.

“We launched our new packaging approach. So for example, reducing the size of labels to reduce the waste of materials . . . the glue that we use in our labeling applications to make sure that we remain recyclable . . . (and) we increased the proportion of recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in our bottles,” Blais-Giroux said.

Lassonde’s fruit juice brands include Allen's, Del Monte and Rougemont. It also makes soups and broths, alcoholic beverages and fruit snacks such as SunRype. It has been in business since 1918, and recorded $664 million in revenue in Q1, in its most recent financial filing.

Greener material in product lines

Lassonde replaced non-recyclable sleeves with recycled PET in its SunRype Slim products and private-label sauce products, according to the report.

In addition to providing more environmentally friendly packaging, the company focused on educating consumers.

“We added the How2Recycle logo, which is not on all packaging: a few of them, mainly in the U.S. for now, but we’re going to expand to provide clear information to consumers as how to recycle their packaging,” Blais-Giroux said.

How2Recycle is a Charlottesville, Va.-based organization that provides standardized labelling and a logo aimed at touting the item's recyclability. It is offered in Canada and the U.S.

New regulations on producers

The company is also responding to new rules established around who is responsible for waste, she explained.

“Considering increased regulation surrounding recyclability, the EPR (extended producer responsibility) system, and everything that is being put in place, we want to make sure that we align, and that we work with our packaging suppliers, to always improve our packaging and make sure that we are aware of new innovation to always make our packaging more sustainable."

While its efforts may be laudable, the journey is not complete, Blais-Giroux added.

“We always want to get better. I would say that our goal with the strategy is not to have one major announcement and one major accomplishment but it’s really to focus on concrete decisions, measurable progress, and continuous improvement across our operations.”

To that end, it has established a number of working groups to tackle certain areas, such as water use reduction, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and improving packaging sustainability, she said.

Short-term, the company wants to be “focusing on reducing our water use across our operations, across our facilities,” she said. “We are also working on the longer term, but to achieve reduction in our GHG emissions, we have set targets for that, and we really want to reinforce our collaboration with our suppliers.”

It managed to cut back on water usage to 2.04 litres per litre of product, which represents a reduction of four per cent over 2024 numbers, which is closer to Lassonde’s 2026 target.

“Sustainability is really a core pillar of our corporate strategy, that’s what we use to shape how we develop our product portfolio, drive operational efficiency and strengthen our ability to act,” Blais-Giroux said.