Heinz selects WestRock’s recyclable paperboard sleeve for multipack shrink wrap swap-out

21 Sep 2021 --- Heinz is replacing the shrink wrap on its Heinz beans, soups and pasta varieties with WestRock’s recyclable paperboard sleeve. The move is estimated to remove 550 metric tons of plastic packaging from UK supermarket shelves as part of Heinz’s £25 million (US$34 million) investment in more environmentally sustainable packaging. 

The Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack is reportedly carbon neutral and will roll out across supermarkets nationwide from September 2021, following a successful trial on Heinz To Home e-commerce deliveries.

The sleeve is made from WestRock’s PEFC-certified CarrierKote paperboard. The supplier says it uses no glue and 50% less material than a fully enclosed wraparound box and 10% less than a traditional 2 x 2 400 g format.

Moreover, the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve 4-pack has an 18.7% lower carbon footprint than the equivalent shrink wrap design, according to an independent LCA study following ISO guidelines.

“We’re extremely proud to leverage the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of sustainable paper and packaging products to create customized, consumer-centric solutions like Cluster-Wing,” says Patrick Kivits, WestRock’s president of Consumer Packaging.

“Our team worked in close collaboration with Heinz stakeholders to deliver a solution that would enable Heinz to achieve its sustainability goals and resonate in the UK market while managing the cost and risk of this transition.”The Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve 4-pack design has an 18.7% lower carbon footprint than shrink wrap.

Convenience is king
Heinz says its recyclable packaging solution is an industry first for the food and drink world and part of a three-year, £25 million (US$34 million) investment and installation at the Heinz Kitt Green factory near Wigan, UK.

The Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack is also designed to provide convenience and value with a robust handle pack enabling shoppers to carry multiple cans of Heinz products. The design was tested with 165 consumers in February 2020 to ensure consumer comfort.

“It’s clear convenience is important to shoppers – research [WestRock Consumer Survey 2020 surveying over 3,000 consumers in US, Germany, UK, France and Spain] has found that 59% of UK shoppers say if a package is easy to carry or transport, it is impactful to their overall satisfaction with the product,” points out Jojo de Noronha, Kraft Heinz’s Northern Europe president.

“And sustainable packaging has a significant impact, too, with 71% of UK shoppers agreeing they are more satisfied with a product if it is easily recycled or composted.”

“Grounded in shopper insight, we feel this new recyclable and easy-to-carry paperboard sleeve ticks both of those boxes and is the perfect eco-friendly solution for our multipacks.”

According to Innova Market Insights, 38% of UK respondents perceive plastic’s recyclability as either “good” or “excellent.” However, this figure jumps to 75% for paper.Innova Market Insights found 35% of UK respondents perceive paper’s recyclability as either “good” or “excellent.”

Heinz hits up eco-design
The Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack follows the company’s removal of plastic shrink wrap from Heinz Soup, Beanz and Pasta multipacks across UK Tesco stores in early 2020. The move eradicated 175 metric tons of plastic from shelves.

Heinz has also made its 100% recyclable steel cans continuously lighter over the years through can design investments.

As part of its pledge to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, the company is also working on broader initiatives, including a partnership with waste-free reusable packaging platform Loop. TerraCycle’s Loop collects, cleans and refills used Heinz Tomato Ketchup glass bottles.

Moreover, Heinz Europe is on track to deliver its first circular economy Tomato Ketchup squeezy bottle to the market in 2021.

In other plastic-replacement technology, WestRock equipped Coca-Cola European Partners with its CanCollar paperboard-based rings for multipack cans last year.

By Joshua Poole