Dive Brief:
- Mars may have a sustainability solution for single serve beverage packaging, a segment that has suffered in recent years from concerns about packaging waste's impact on the environment.
- Mars Drinks, which sells coffee to workplaces, is debuting a new design for its single serve packaging, called Freshpack. Freshpack offers a 31% carbon footprint reduction compared to traditional coffee pods.
- Mars Drinks innovated the production of Freshpack pods by removing aluminum, which was a significant contributor to the packaging's carbon footprint. In doing so, Mars Drinks decreased emissions from the raw material extraction process by 40%.
Dive Insight:
Mars may have an answer for the environmental fiasco that has plagued single serve brands like Keurig or Nestle's Nespresso. Freshpack could disrupt and revive the single serve beverage industry.
Single serve packaging took off just within the past decade, particularly when Keurig's at-home beverage makers became popular. But after a few years of fast growth, sales slowed and then plunged as consumers cited how much waste single serve packaging created. After one of its final earnings reports last year, before JAB Holdings acquired the company, Keurig's stock plunged 25% due to notable dips in both profit and revenue.
Mars may have an answer for the environmental fiasco that has plagued single serve brands like Keurig or Nestle's Nespresso. Freshpack could disrupt and revive the single serve beverage industry.
The new packaging also aligns with both the unit and parent company's efforts to be more sustainable in their operations and to offer more sustainable products. So far, that has included Mars reducing fossil-fuel energy, greenhouse gas emissions and water use and working toward converting its facilities to zero waste.