Our Partnership with Plastic Bank

In 2021, HelloFresh partnered with Plastic Bank® to set up three plastic collection centres in Indonesia to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean while helping to improve lives in the local community.

How does it work?

Plastic Bank is one of the leading organisations working towards reducing ocean plastics and providing work opportunities for people living in impoverished areas. Through our partnership with them, we were able to set up three collection centres in Indonesia, a country with high rates of plastic pollution and poverty. 

Across the collection centres in Indonesia, members of the local community collect plastic, which is then recycled and integrated back into the value chain. These community members receive a premium for every piece they collect. This ensures they can access not only necessities like electricity tokens and grocery vouchers, but also life-improving benefits, such as health insurance and education for their family.

What have we achieved?

Thanks to this partnership, we have seen some incredible results. So far, the collection centres have helped prevent more than 35.2 million bottles from entering the ocean, collected more than 700,000kg of plastic, and supported 566 families each year it has been running.

In fact, by the end of 2023, our partnership with Plastic Bank® will have prevented 37.5 million bottles from entering the ocean and collected 750,000kg of plastic while supporting the local community.

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 interconnected goals that were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDGs aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. 

HelloFresh is committed to sustainable development, and through our collaboration with Plastic Bank, we are proud to be supporting a sustainable recycling ecosystem in Indonesia that provides stable, incremental income for local collection members. Through this, HelloFresh is supporting nine of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: 

SDG 1: No Poverty
SDG 3: Good Health & Well-being
SDG 5: Gender Equality
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 14: Life Below Water
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

What else is HelloFresh doing to reduce plastic waste?

Our packaging commitment is to “Avoid, Reduce, Optimise”. Unlike a traditional supermarket supply chain, we source ingredients directly from the producer. This shorter supply chain means we avoid packaging and repackaging along the entire supply chain journey. We also use innovative technology to minimise the amount of packaging in each order, reduce package size wherever possible and eliminate unnecessary packaging entirely, whilst ensuring your ingredients stay fresh all the way to your doorstep.

To find out more about our sustainability efforts and packaging commitment, head to our website.