Lion New Zealand staff across the country removed almost 1,600 litres of rubbish last year from Aotearoa’s beaches, waterways and parks. Over the course of five Sustainable Coastlines clean-up events, 124 Lion staff collected everything from road cones and broken plastic chairs to discarded takeaway packaging and single-use bottles.
Lion New Zealand’s Sustainability Advisor, Lorietta Bahr, said that Lion has supported Sustainable Coastlines for more than a decade. Volunteering has been a core part of the company’s sustainability strategy to be a ‘force for good,’ and these events highlight the importance of sustainable packaging targets.
“Litter on our beaches can have a devastating effect on the environment. Disposing rubbish correctly is critical, and we are responsible as a drinks company for ensuring that as much of our packaging is reused or recycled as possible,” said Bahr.
“On average, our packaging in New Zealand is made from 63.3 percent recycled material, while over 99.2 percent of our packaging is recyclable or reusable. We will continue to push past our recycled content target of 50 percent to get it as high as we can, and we have been making small but meaningful changes to our packaging design to reduce weight and increase recyclability even further.”
Sustainable Coastlines COO Kate Rooney also valued the long-term support of companies such as Lion.
“Running team clean-up days with the organisations that support us is precious as it means that staff can directly contribute to cleaner beaches and gain a first-hand understanding of the litter problem, which helps to align with Lion’s sustainability initiatives”.
Sustainable Coastlines has continued to empower communities to take action for their local beach through coastal clean-up events, educational programmes, public awareness campaigns, and litter data collection.
