The latest updates and innovations in retail packaging
ALDI
Removing plastic straws from drinks cartons.
Aldi have removed plastic straws from all own-label drinks.
Their straws will now be made from fully recyclable, FSC certified paper.
This switch will remove 70 million plastic straws from circulation.
Mars food
Making the switch to mono plastics.
Mars Food have unveiled their new mono polypropylene material for their Uncle Ben’s microwave rice.
This mono material enables the pouches to maintain their shape, shelf life and functionality.
It means the pouches are now recyclable where the infrastructure exists.
pepsico
Reduce the use of virgin plastics.
Pepsico have agreed to cut their use of virgin plastics in their packaging, after speaking with As You Sow, a non profit who promote social responsibility and the reduction of single use plastic.
Mondelez who own Pepsico set a plastic reduction target for 2025, resulting in a 5% absolute reduction in virgin plastic. These actions are projected to create a 10,000 tonne reduction in virgin plastic packaging.
ocado
Overhauls own label packaging.
Ocado.com has revamped its own label range, claiming the move has reduced 27 tonnes of plastic and 9 million non-essential packaging components.
Ocado hired design agency JKR to create the new range.
As part of Ocado’s commitment to the UK Plastics Pack, the retailer has eliminated PVC, Polystyrene & Black plastics from all of its own label products.
evian
Ongoing packaging innovations.
The water giant is well known for its bottled water. With the push for plastic reduction Evian have been looking at new innovative ideas for their packaging.
Evian have unveiled their new flavoured sparkling drinks, packaged in recyclable cans which is a first for them. With Evian reducing their plastic bottle use, we can only assume that similar companies will follow suit.
tesco
Plans to collect hard to recycle soft plastics.
Tesco is rolling out collection points across England & Wales, these collections will accept hard to recycle plastics such as, bread bags, crisp packets and pet food pouches.
Most flexible plastics end up in landfill as they are hard to recycle. Tesco plans to establish a nationwide recycling network for these harder to process plastics.
smarties
100% move from plastics.
Nestle owned Smarties will switch 90% of its product packaging (10% are already packed in paper products) to paper materials.
Smarties sharing bags, multipacks and large hexatubes will be made from coated paper, paper labels or cartonboard.
Nestle plan to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
coca cola
Trialling paper drinks bottles.
Coca Cola plan to test a paper bottle as part of its long term bid to eliminate plastic from its packaging entirely.
The prototype produced by Danish company Paboco is made with an extra strong paper shell and contains a thin plastic layer. The goal is to create a 100% recyclable, plastic free bottle, capable of holding still and sparkling drinks.
After 7 years in the lab the first trials will be rolled out across Hungary for the fruit drink Adez.
the co-op
Saying goodbye to bags for life.
The Co-Op are set to remove their bags for life from sale, as many customers are using them only once. They have become as big a problem as the single use carriers they replaced. More than 1.5 billion bags for life are sold every year and with the vast majority being used only once there has been a hike in plastic pollution to meet the demand.
The Co-Op will stop selling these bags in its 2,600 stores once current stock has run out. This will remove 29.5 million bags per year, equating to 870 tonne of plastic.
The only bags the Co-Op will offer going forward are their compostable carriers which can be used as food caddy liners afterwards.