Eco-conscious cheese lovers lifted by TerraCycle's UK recycling program

16 Jul 2020 --- UK cheese manufacturer Cathedral City has partnered with Terracycle to deliver on calls for improved recycling efficiencies. The collaboration has given life to the UK’s first recycling program for flexible film cheese packaging to be rolled out for the entire cheese category – no matter the brand. The program’s objective is to encourage consumers to collect their Cathedral City cheese packaging and responsibly dispose of it at one of the scheme’s public access drop off points across the UK. This partnership is the latest step in Cathedral City’s mission to provide fully recyclable packaging by 2022.

“This joint program from Cathedral City and TerraCycle is a category-first scheme in an industry with packaging that is notoriously difficult to recycle. TerraCycle offers solutions for hard-to-recycle waste streams. We know consumers are passionate about reducing their impact on the environment too, which this scheme now allows them to do, and we have already seen a fantastic level of interest in the program from consumers,” Julien Tremblin, Head of Brand Partnerships at Terracycle, tells PackagingInsights.

“It’s difficult to provide an exact figure as cheese packaging is currently disposed of in the general waste bin, along with all other non-recyclable household waste, making it impossible to understand the breakdown. This industry-first recycling solution from Cathedral City and TerraCycle means consumers will be able to recycle their cheese packaging regardless of the brand, limiting landfill volumes,” he adds.

Reducing carbon emissions with cheese
Consumers eager to recycle their plastic can search for their nearest public access drop-off point via Cathedral City’s website and drop their flexible cheese packaging waste there. The plastic from the collection points around the country is sent free of charge to TerraCycle by the location administrator before being sorted, aggregated and sent for processing.

The collected plastic is shredded, washed and converted into pellets or flakes. This new, reusable raw material can then be transformed into durable products, such as outdoor furniture or waste bins. If there is no public drop-off point nearby, people can sign up to open a public collection point themselves and allow their whole community to collect the flexible film cheese packaging.

The idea behind the public access drop-off locations is that each one will serve a different community or communities as a whole, says Terracycle.“We try and set these programs up to reach as many people as possible in the UK. If a collector does not have a drop-off location nearby, they are welcome to set one up themselves. If this is not an option, it is worth noting that the emissions that result from processing this waste – including transporting it – are still lower than sending it to landfill and producing more virgin plastics as a result,” Tremblin explains.

Moreover, consumers can send at least ten packs of flexible cheese packaging to Cathedral City. The required shipping label can be printed out via the company’s online website.

“Notoriously difficult” cheese packaging
Cheese film packaging is notoriously difficult to recycle because it is made up of different layers, which serve a vital purpose. “They help to ensure that the cheese doesn’t become contaminated before opening, has a good best-before date and stays fresher for longer, which also helps to reduce food waste. To tackle this issue, the Cathedral City research and development team is working on packaging solutions that could be recycled in standard household recycling collections in the future,” says Lee Willett, Marketing Director at Saputo Dairy UK, manufacturing company of Cathedral City.

Certain parts of the flexible cheese packaging cannot be recycled, such as the bottom layers and protective plastic foils. “The trays from cheese slice packaging are already widely recyclable, with the paper from cheese slice packaging being compostable. This means collectors can dispose of them through their existing council collection where possible,” Willett details.

This recycling program also does not include cheese wax, cheese wax paper, cheese slice dividers, and nets from mini cheese portions. “As a business, we set ourselves the ambition more than three years ago to develop a packaging format by 2022 that can be recycled in standard household recycling collections. It’s a challenge, but we are working hard toward that goal,” he notes.

“We are committed to minimizing our impact on the environment while helping cheese lovers reduce household waste. This TerraCycle partnership is a first step in our journey to making packaging fully recyclable in the future,” Willett concludes. 

By Anni Schleicher