Profit and sustainable goals are not enemies, says Martin Dimitrov,Regional Category Manager at Mars Balkans Adriatics – one of the largest food manufacturers in the world with a brand portfolio including M&M's®, SNICKERS®, MARS®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS® and more.

 

- What are the sustainable models and practices that your company has implemented in its operations?

 

- At Mars, Inc. we don't just follow sustainable trends – we create them. We are proud to have implemented a comprehensive 'Sustainability for a Generation' plan, focused on 4 key areas - a healthy planet, prosperous people, improving well-being and packaging transformation. Driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with the way we do business today, we strive to influence sustainable practices across the value chain. Mars' long-term vision is to expand its influence on suppliers and drive more sustainable raw material extraction. We have committed to using 100% sustainable cocoa in all our products by 2025, with 61% already meeting strict eco standards. We have also achieved 100% of the fish in our pet products in Europe being sustainably sourced. Another of our goals is to reduce the use of plastic by 25% by 2025, transforming over 12,000 types of packaging into eco-friendly ones. We now save 480t of plastic per year in Europe just from the sustainable packaging of our leading pet products.