The owner of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Wing Street vows to promote green packaging

Apr 8, 2013 20:51 GMT  ·  By

Yum! Brands, which happens to be the world's largest fast food company as far as system units go, has recently gone public with the news that it wants to improve on its ecological footprint.

Thus, the company no longer wants anything to do with rainforest destruction and promises to switch to sustainable packaging as soon as possible.

For those unaware, Yum! Brands currently operates or licenses restaurant chains such as Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Wing Street.

Seeing how tremendous amounts of either paper or cardboard packaging are used by the fast food joints operating under the aforementioned names on a daily basis, Yum! Brands' decision to roll out a greener paper policy comes as good news indeed. Mongabay informs us that, as part of its latest environmental commitments, said company is to no longer use any fiber that has been proven to come from forests cleared in order to make room for plantations.

Furthermore, Yum! Brands is to rid its supply chain of fiber coming either from forests whose destruction goes against human rights, or from unknown sources.

Lastly, the company wishes to up the proportion of recycled content found in its packaging, the same source informs us.

“Understanding and addressing our packaging impact on the environment and working closely with our suppliers, is a global imperative for the long-term sustainability of our business. Yum! is committed to making sustainable packaging a priority,” reads one of the statements issued by the company with respect to this shift in its working agenda.

“Given the large volume of packaging we buy, Yum! is uniquely positioned to provide environmentally preferable packaging to our consumers around the globe while also reducing our impact on the environment and our communities,” the company went on to argue.

The wood fiber expected to be used by Yum! Brands once these new environmental policies are up and running will have to abide by standards listed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Throughout the following several months, the company is to contact its suppliers and see to it that steps are being taken towards implementing this greener paper policy.