Lassonde is bringing more paper straws to its portfolio of brands to meet its sustainable development objectives by 2025. 

Last year, after a successful, albeit small paper straw test run with Oasis beverages, Lassonde rolled out the format across its Simple Drop and Kiju brands. Now, the CPG is announcing that it’s permanently replacing plastic straws with recyclable bendable paper straws across its 200ml SunRype beverage boxes, timed to coincide not just with back-to-school but also the 75th anniversary of the SunRype brand.

SunRype, a B.C.-based division of the Canadian fruit-based food and beverage manufacturer, will see its whole line of 200ml Tetra Pak 100% juice and decreased sugar content SKUs come complete with these new straws, which are manufactured out of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper.  

“We know that our customers place a lot of importance on finding products that meet today’s environmental challenges,” says president Claire Bara, who adds that the company is “on track” to meet its sustainability targets, which include aiming for 25% post-consumer recycled content in its PET bottles, as well as using 100% recyclable packaging for all its products. 

She tells strategy it integrated all the insights it gathered since it started its paper straw journey, which began as a “modest” test run in Quebec, finding that younger consumers are more environmentally conscious and willing to trial the product, provided it’s explained simply.

The most important learning is making consumers really understand what they are buying, as plastic vs paper straws are quite a different experience.

“We’ve dedicated a good portion of the packaging to mention ‘new paper straws’ so nobody is confused,” Bara says [see, above]. “We also use on-shelf media to communicate that this is the same product they like, but with a paper straw.”

However, the brand did not want to invest a lot of money or produce a wealth of POS materials outside of a few shelf talkers, Bara explains, because that would defeat the purpose of such an important green-forward initiative. Rather, it’s using more digital, social and influencers to get the message out, in addition to packaging.

In 2020, Lassonde was the first company in the country to make and commercialize the 200ml bendable paper straw on a wide scale, done under the Kiju organic brand, as well as Simple Drop and Fruit Drop.

Recently, Lassonde also announced a packaging refresh for its Oasis portfolio of brands, as well as an evolution of its brand platform around the everyday and “finding your Oasis.”

The SunRype paper straw unveiling is across the board, coming to all major grocery banners nationwide.

For the SunRype campaign, Crew out of Vancouver is assisting with social outreach, while SJK worked on the packaging.