Challenge

Every year, more than eight million tons of plastic end up in the sea, and more than 90 percent of all seabirds have plastic in their gut. In 2050, there could be more plastic in the sea than fish. Plastic becomes a problem when it is carelessly disposed of, represents a threat to animal life and ends up as microplastic in the sea. Microplastics accumulate in the food chain, bringing with them environmental toxins that negatively affect food safety in the food we eat.

Our ambition in this area

Reduce the total consumption and prevent inappropriate disposal of plastic.

How we take action /what action has been taken

As part of the "50/50-5" project, Lerøy has introduced sub-projects throughout the value chain to reduce general plastic consumption and consumption of non-recyclable plastic by 50% within 2024. Each segment is measured in terms of development, and initiatives are shared across the Group. For the farming segment, purchased feeding tubes & ropes are measured, for the wild catch and the VAPS&D segments purchased vacuum films, single use plastics and EPS are measured.

Lerøy participates in a number of measures to remove plastics from the environment. Read more about this here.

POLICY:  Plastic

How we measure our impact

All companies report their results quarterly via the Cemasys reporting tool. Impact is illustrated both at Group and company level with the PowerBI analysis tool. If the performance trend deviates from the target (0 or negative), the cause must be identified and specific measures implemented, the effect of the measures evaluated and possibly adjusted towards the next quarterly measurement.

Action taken due to results 

Lerøy has participated in a project together with NORCE to investigate the amount of microplastic in fish fillets and organs from farmed salmon – SalmoDetect.

By reducing a chamber previously used to label products in plastlink, we were able to reduce our plastic consumption by 10,000 kg. Labels are now placed directly on the foil.

By reducing the thickness of vacuum film for certain products, we have been able to substantially reduce our plastic consumption without having an impact on the technical properties of the film.

By collaborating with our customers, we have increased the percentage of filling for our products so that we use less plastic in kg per kg of product.

Lerøy maintains an overview of plastic purchased throughout the entire Group. Lerøy also assesses waste management and recycling of these types of plastic to determine the level of sustainability across national borders.

We limit the use of plastic when other sustainable materials meet the technical requirements. We play an active role in the development of alternative packaging materials for consumer packages and distribution packages.

Targets and Results 

In 2022 the group used 8 392 168 kg of plastic within the identified areas, this is a substantial increase from 2021. During last year, the group has run a project called "sustainability in daily operations".

The project aims to create even more awareness in the organization in order to secure correct and verified recording and reporting of sustainability figures with associated reduction measures. It is probable that the increase is due to better quality of reporting.

* data from 2019 is deficient or not complete. Base years must therefore be evaluated from the year 2020.