General Mills’ Nature Valley launches Store Drop-Off recyclable snack bar wrapper in US first

23 Feb 2021 --- General Mills brand Nature Valley is launching a plastic film wrapper confirmed as Store Drop-Off recyclable by How2Recycle for its Crunchy granola bar. 

Nature Valley is inviting other brands to share its “market-first” technology by not patenting the wrapper.

Developed by Nature Valley R&D scientists and packaging partners, the solution uses “new-to-the-category” advanced film processing and unique polyethylene polymers.

The wrapper’s barrier preserves the product’s freshness and does not compromise shelf life, the company highlights, while the recycled material can be used to create new products like synthetic lumber and decking equipment. 

The newly packaged bars hit shelves this spring and bring Nature Valley closer to its 100 percent recyclable packaging by 2025 commitment. General Mills’ goal is to implement the wrapper technology across the brand’s entire snack portfolio and extend it to other brands and products by 2030.

“The team had to overcome several technical challenges in developing this new technology: proving recyclability through the How2Recycle certification process, verifying the new wrapper preserves the product’s taste and texture, and demonstrating runnability in Nature Valley plants,” Mollie Wulff, spokesperson at General Mills, tells PackagingInsights.

“All these challenges were exacerbated by the COVID-19 environment. Ultimately, R&D scientists cleared these barriers through outstanding collaboration up and down the supply chain.’

PackagingInsights recently explored how legislative pressure and consumer demands for more eco-friendly packaging are driving recyclable plastic solutions, as well as bioplastic and fiber-based alternatives, in the confectionery sector.Click to EnlargeStore Drop-Off enables flexible plastics recycling, including grocery and produce bags, bread bags, plastic wraps, plastic mailers and cereal bags, if they include the How2Recycle Store Drop-Off label.

Communicating recyclability
Nature Valley plans to educate consumers about the Store Drop-Off recycling system, re-engage their interest in reducing landfilled material and stimulate recycling parallel to the wrapper launch.

The brand has created a multi-channel consumer education plan to drive Store Drop-Off recycling awareness and promote small consumer actions.

Moreover, the How2Recycle Label is a standardized labeling system clearly communicating recycling instructions on-pack.

According to a recent Innova Market Insights survey, half of US consumers (49%) recognize recyclability as packaging’s most important sustainability credential, followed by reusability (44%) and recycled material use (35%) (2021).

How2Recycle highlights plastic bags, wraps, and films are not recyclable in curbside recycling bins. However, the Store Drop-Off program enables the recycling of flexible plastics made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE), including grocery and produce bags, bread bags, plastic wraps, plastic mailers and cereal bags, if they include the How2Recycle Store Drop-Off label.Click to EnlargeGeneral Mills is working with organizations to advance recycled content, but supply issues are challenging.

“Store drop-off recycling is a retailer-sponsored program that collects plastic bags and other flexible plastic packaging in their stores. Consumers can collect and save qualifying plastic films and bring them into stores to recycle,” the General Mills spokesperson shares.

“This is different from at-home or curbside recycling, where recycling haulers take curbside recycling from homes to material recovery facilities (MRFs). If there are plastic wrappers in the bins that arrive at the MRFs, they can fly into the air and get stuck in the machinery, causing them to halt their lines.”

Plastic waste and carbon reductions
Nature Valley introduced the “world’s first” granola bar in 1975 as an on-the-go snack designed to help people get outside and explore nature.

“Our drive to be a force for good, and a force for nature, led Nature Valley to invest in this packaging technology,” said Brian Higgins, Grain Snacks business unit director at General Mills.

“And as the creator and share leader of the bar category, we feel a responsibility to continue innovating and encouraging future solutions that could make recycling wrappers even easier.”

Nature Valley and other General Mills brands are working with leading NGOs to create plastic film recycling infrastructure, such as The Recycling Partnership and the Wrap Recycling Action Program (WRAP).

“Recycled content offers a wide range of environmental benefits. We continue to work with organizations to advance the use of recycled content, but supply continues to present a challenge,” the spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.

“By participating in the store drop-off program, consumers are helping to build that supply of clean, reliable post-consumer recycled material. Until this supply is reliable enough and safe for food packaging, we are unable to test its effectiveness with our Nature Valley packaging.”

In 2020, General Mills pledged to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent over the next decade and slash food waste in half. The commitment entails a strategic focus on regenerative agriculture and aligns with the UN’s Paris Agreement 1.5°C climate change target.

The multinational has also committed to net-zero emissions by 2050.

By Joshua Poole

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