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Tropicana Shrinks Juice Boxes Due to Orange Crop Failure

Tropicana is shrinking its most popular size of orange juice by five ounces due to freezes in January that put the squeeze on orange crops.   Read More

(Updated on July 24, 2024)

Tropicana is shrinking its most popular size of orange juice by five ounces due to freezes in January that put the squeeze on orange crops.

We’re waiting to hear from Tropicana if they will either just put less juice in each container or switch to smaller containers. Either way there will be some environmental benefits – albeit unintentional – from using less packaging material or sending out shipments that weigh less.

More than 4 percent of the orange crop in Florida was lost due to an extended freeze in January, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the crop would be 19 percent smaller than last year’s crop.

While the price of the 64-ounce (soon-to-be 59-ounce) container will stay the same as the amount of liquid in it drops, Tropicana is raising the price for its Pure Premium orange juice between 5-8 percent, but keeping packaging the same. Both changes take effect in May.

But of all the factors that contribute to Tropicana’s carbon footprint, neither packaging nor transportation is the biggest emissions culprit. Fertilizer is.

In an analysis of Tropicana’s carbon footprint, it’s parent company PepsiCo found that fertilizer accounts for 58 percent (the largest single share) of its carbon.

Tropicana plans to test fertilizers from two companies that could lower orange juice’s carbon footprint by 20 percent. The multiyear tests will be conducted at one of Tropicana’s producer farms in Florida, using products by Yara International and Outlook Resources.

Yara will provide calcium-based fertilizers instead of the typical inorganic nitrogen fertilizers that rely on carbon-heavy natural gas and release nitrous oxide. Outlook is focusing on making fertilizers with local, organic renewable resources.

Orange juice – CC license by ricardo / zone41.net
 

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