Dole is the biggest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, including bananas, the globe’s most popular fruit. The company announced several new sustainability goals this week including a plan to eliminate fossil-based plastic packaging by 2025 and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. To achieve these goals, they have introduced several new green strategies. 

To reduce plastic waste, the company is exploring ways to turn pineapple skins, cores, and banana leaves into packaging. Unfortunately, food waste itself is also damaging to the environment. To address this, the company is developing new snacks from imperfect produce that grocery stores don’t want and making use of biogas facilities to turn excess waste into energy for its production centers. Using these methods, Dole plans to achieve zero fruit loss by 2025. 

Within the supply chain, the company is implementing electric delivery trucks and reducing standard regulations which prevent perfectly good food from being sold due to cosmetic flaws. 

According to Dole president Pier Luigi Sigismondi, if food waste were a country, it would be third in the world after the US and China in terms of impact on global warming. We at The Optimist Daily have frequently shared solutions on reducing food waste at home and through technology solutions. Corporate action plans from large producers is another great solution for mitigating this greenhouse gas hot spot.