Danone Brasil reduced waste and reached 360,000 people
Danone Brasil reported the results in its 2025 Sustainability Report, which covers efforts to limit waste before and after production. The company said its partnership with Sesc Mesa Brasil distributed dairy and specialised-nutrition products suitable for consumption across different regions of Brazil.
The programme supports registered social organisations and includes products intended for people with specific nutritional needs. Danone said the initiative reached more than 360,000 people through 1,263 institutions in 2025. Sesc Mesa Brasil is described by the company as Latin America’s largest private food-bank network focused on hunger and food waste.
At Danone’s dairy facility in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, the company automated drainage on production lines and installed 85 sensors on equipment and at strategically selected points. The system enabled automated monitoring of critical stages and helped identify opportunities to reduce losses. The plant’s physical-loss rate fell from 1.70% to 1.34% during 2025.
Mario Rezende, Danone Brasil’s vice-president of operations, said: “When we reduce waste, we create value from the resources we already have. This means working to lose less during production, but also finding ways for food fit for consumption to reach people who need it.” The company said the plant project forms part of the digitalisation of its local operations and is linked to a global target of halving food waste at factories and distribution centres by 2030, compared with 2020.
Danone also reported a packaging change in Brazil during 2025. A new 100g package for dairy products uses 8% less material than its predecessor and is expected to reduce annual consumption of virgin plastic by more than 30 tonnes. The design is biomimetic, drawing on the structure of honeycombs while maintaining product performance with less material.
Other indicators in the report cover nutrition, agriculture, employees and communities. Danone said all of its yoghurt and dessert lines in Brazil carry no front-of-pack warning labels. The company has held B Corp certification in Brazil since 2021 and said its global B Corp certification was completed in 2025. In its dairy supply chain, the Jornada Flora programme covers producers responsible for about 60% of Danone’s milk collection in Brazil; since 2020, the programme has recorded a 50% reduction in the carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions factor and a 43% reduction in the methane emissions factor. Women hold 53% of leadership positions in the Brazilian business, while Black employees hold 27%. More than 60% of participants in the Raízes programme for Black talent have been promoted or moved roles since its creation.
