Monaghan, A Natural Future

Eleven of Ireland’s leading agricultural processing and food businesses have come together to make the plastic packaging in their respective supply chains more sustainable. The collaboration includes market leaders from Ireland’s beef, poultry, lamb, fruit, vegetables, dairy, prepared meals and packed salad sectors. Aidan Cotter, former CEO of Bord Bia, will be Chair of the project.

The companies, which represent significant but different elements of the Agri. food sector are: ABP (beef); Manor Farm (poultry); Irish Country Meats (lamb); Keelings (fruit), Monaghan Mushrooms (mushrooms), Country Crest (vegetables), Ballymaguire (prepared meals), Nature’s Best (salads), Aurivo (dairy), Bandon Vale (cheese) and C&D Foods (petfood).

The project will be driven by a steering committee which is made up of senior executives from each of the participating companies.

All participants will use their collective food production experience and expertise to significantly reduce problematic single use packaging from the supply chain, whilst also introducing innovative and more sustainable alternatives. The group will also work with leading researchers in the area of plastics and packaging and leverage their extensive international networks to ensure successful outcomes.

Commenting on the launch of the collaborative programme, Aidan Cotter, said: “The coming together of eleven of the leading key players in Irish food production to look to arrive at solutions for the issue of plastics packaging is a significant development.  These companies are leaders in their respective sectors and their combined experience will create a dynamic force that will likely punch well above its weight in seeking tangible solutions for the significant reduction of the use of plastic packaging on Ireland’s supermarket shelves”.