Food waste problem makes plastic pouches sustainability frontrunners, says UK food innovator

21 Feb 2019 --- Plastic laminate pouches remain the most sustainable packaging option in the UK, despite the lack of facilities capable of recycling them. That is the opinion of Luke Heeney, Technical and Innovations Director at family-run food innovators, Leathems. Heeney, who will be chairing the Food Forum Seminar at Packaging Innovations 2019 in Birmingham next week, tells PackagingInsights that alternatives to plastic pouches are typically heavier and provide poorer shelf-life protection, increasing the net environmental impact of packaged foods.

Heeney explains that, unlike glass and steel alternatives, plastic pouches are lightweight and easy to transport. In this way, they produce fewer carbon emissions, although they are more difficult to recycle in existing UK recycling streams. Heeney highlights that recycling experts, notably TerraCycle, are working with industry-leading suppliers to improve the recyclability of difficult to recycle pack types like plastic laminate pouches.

The UK waste industry has been under intense scrutiny after think tank, Policy Connect, published a report last week, alleging that the country “sweeps its plastic waste issues under other countries’ carpets.”

This week, the UK government launched a series of consultations with the aim of “overhauling the waste system.” The consultations will include the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, improvements to the consistency of household recycling and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for cans and bottles.

A selection of Leathems' plastic laminate pouches.Flexible packaging specialists Amcor is one major supplier looking to implement recyclability into the design of laminate pouches. Earlier this month, it launched Genesis – a new high-performance laminate that offers in-store recyclability. The all-polyethylene (PE) laminate looks and feels like traditional oriented polypropylene (oPP)/PE and oriented polyester (oPET)/PE laminates and can be used to package a variety of consumer goods. Genesis is “complementary” to AmLite, Amcor’s polyolefin-based film that can be used for ambient and retort high-barrier applications, which launched in September 2018.

Food waste: “A bigger environmental problem – gram-for-gram – than food packaging”
Heeney also explains to PackagingInsights that plastic pouches trump the material alternatives in terms of shelf-life enhancement. He stresses that food waste is a significantly greater environmental issue than plastic packaging pollution.

“The environmental impact of food waste is, gram-for-gram, much higher than the impact of the packaging itself. Based on a filled pouch of 250g and a pouch only weighing 6g, one wasted pouch of food is equivalent to 320 empty pouches going to landfill,” Heeney says.

“Alternative plastic packaging would require a significant reduction in product shelf-life or the product to be frozen. The current pouch offers the best total environmental solution when balancing food waste, transport, recycling and packaging impacts.”

“We have to be conscious not to make a seemingly positive change in one area of the supply chain that actually serves to worsen the entire product environmental footprint,” he adds.

For this reason, Leathams primarily uses PET laminates and cardboard for the packaging of food products. It tries to avoid shrink wrapping and black printed plastic serving trays.

“Increasing the sustainability of our packaging is a priority for our business,” he continues. “We are always looking at ways to reduce the amount of packaging we use and to ensure that all new product launches only use packaging which is recyclable.”

“This can be a real challenge when dealing with product offerings that are retorted during manufacture. Sometimes there isn’t a suitable alternative material which is fit for manufacturing purpose or the technology is simply not available yet,” he explains.

The key to sustainability? Changing behavior
Heeney believes that the key to increasing sustainability, particularly within the foodservice sector where single-use packaging waste is a considerable problem, is to change recycling behavior as a society and for the industry to provide appealing and more eco-friendly alternatives.

“You can already see more and more refillable and reusable water bottles and coffee cups in various shapes and sizes. Providing consumers with products which meet the requirements of their lifestyle in terms of design, appearance and price will go a long way to reduce this problem. The story of ‘why use this product’ must also be told.”

Leathems uses predominately PET laminates and cardboard for its packaging.While exploring more sustainable alternatives to packaging, Heeneys maintains that the aesthetics of packaging design must remain engaging.

“It is most important to our customers and consumers that information is easily readable and understandable and that the pack isn’t overloaded with content. The packaging should add to the enjoyment at the point of purchase and provide useful information on how to use the product and where to get further brand information. Packaging is truly a gateway to consumers,” Heeney notes.

Leathams was founded in 1980 by Mark and Oliver Leatham. It owns and markets the following brands: Merchant Gourmet (dried and retorted pulses, grains and lentils), Sunblush (semi-dried tomatoes), Charcuti (Spanish & Italian charcuterie, and Roquito (peppers). In addition, it has a Leathams own label.

Heeney will chair the Food Forum Seminar at the Industry Forum Stage from 12:15 on the first day of Packaging Innovations 2019 in Birmingham, UK.

By Joshua Poole