Orbit and UJ art students’ art installation raises awareness around plastic waste

Orbit Gum has announced the introduction of a sustainable and recyclable packaging for its product range. The change forms part of Mars Incorporated’s global strategy, Sustainability in a Generation, to eliminate PVC from its packaging by 2020 and achieve 100 percent recyclable packaging by 2025.

 “The Mars Sustainable in a Generation Plan addresses key areas of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and focuses on three key areas — Healthy Planet, Thriving People and Nourishing Wellbeing,” said Orbit senior brand manager, Ashleigh Sanderson.

To support these exciting changes and get South Africans involved in its journey towards sustainability, Orbit has also launched a Pledge to Plant campaign under the banner, #JustOneThing. Orbit will host a pledge pod at Wits Main Campus on 2 August from 10 am to 3 pm. For every 10 fans who pledge their support for the campaign, Orbit will make a donation to Greenpop, a non-profit organisation that focuses on enviro-education and physical tree planting.

To create additional awareness around the campaign, Orbit has partnered with University of Johannesburg art students to create an art installation, which will live at The Marc in Sandton for two weeks between 31 July and 14 August. The art installation is a visual representation of a portion of the plastic waste Orbit have started removing by doing #JustOneThing.

Sanderson said packaging plays an important role in protecting the integrity of ingredients and products in their journey from farms to the end consumer.

“Packaging is important in preserving the freshness of the product, conveying its nutritional and health information and differentiating brands. We are also aware of the challenges we have with packaging materials and through our Global Sustainable in a Generation Plan, we have committed to implementing recyclable packaging to our product range by 2025,” Anderson said.