Twelve months after Coles launched its own brand certified carbon neutral beef, the range is now available nationally, with Western Australia joining the fold.
The certified carbon neutral beef was two years in the making and launched in Victoria last April, with farmers involved in the project recording a drop in their emissions to 19 per cent lower than the Australian average.
In November, the retailer expanded distribution to New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania with six premium cuts including porterhouse steak, chuck roast and scotch fillet, which was recently awarded Product of the Year in the 2023 Consumer Survey of Product Innovation.
Coles was the first supermarket to launch a certified own brand carbon neutral beef product from paddock to shelf that was produced in accordance with the federal government's Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard.
The Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef range carries the Climate Active logo to help customers identify the certified beef on shelves. Climate Active certification is awarded to businesses and organisations that have credibly reached a state of achieving carbon neutrality for their products or services.
Western Australia.
Coles works closely with 15 national producers, including two suppliers in Western Australia, to calculate and reduce emissions on farms. Methods used include planting additional trees, using renewable energy, herd management techniques, and genetic selection to improve herd health.
Coles senior category manager for Beef, Mark Simonis, said, “We are proud to partner with two local farmers who offer a great tasting product that meets our customers’ growing demand for sustainable options in the supermarket aisles,” said Simonis.
Meat and Livestock Australia managing director Jason Strong congratulated Coles on the expansions of the range and said it was an important step towards achieving the red meat industry’s target of carbon neutrality by 2030.
“Coles is leading the charge when it comes to carbon neutral beef. By working directly with farmers to help them lower emissions and offset carbon, the red meat industry is getting closer towards achieving its target of carbon neutral by 2030,” said Strong.
The new beef range is packed into a recyclable tray and made from 90 per cent recycled and plant-based sources, an Australian innovation by Coles’ packaging partner Plantic Technologies, which recently won the Australian Packaging Innovation and Design Award (PIDA) for Sustainable Packaging Design of the Year in the recycled content category.
The PLANTIC RV tray is manufactured using modern technology where locally sourced Recycled PET, is combined with the renewable sourced, high barrier PLANTIC HP sheet. The vacuum tray s made from 70 per centrecycled PET and 20 per cent renewable starch.
The LCA study shows that the use of the Plantic packaging will reduce C02 emissions by approximately 13,998kgs, or equivalent to planting 1924 trees when compared to traditional oil-based virgin plastics. Additionally, the use of recycled PET in this product line is equivalent to approximately 273,865 600ml PET water bottles.
