Low-impact material wraps M&S butter

Retailer Marks & Spencer has become the first in the United Kingdom and Ireland to use Lean®Cover packaging to wrap its butter products. The new material, made by Ecolean AB in Sweden, is supplied by National Flexible, Ecolean’s sole representative in those countries.

Retailer Marks & Spencer has become the first in the United Kingdom and Ireland to use Lean®Cover packaging to wrap its butter products. The new material, made by Ecolean AB in Sweden, is supplied by National Flexible, Ecolean’s sole representative in those countries. Lean Cover is a flexible packaging material made of a combination of calcium carbonate (chalk) mixed with polyethylene. It is considered to be resource-efficient and have a low environmental impact.

Marks & Spencer uses a 2.2-mil thickness of the material that’s printed flexo in five line colors plus an overlacquer. Some colors are metallized, says Chrystel Landkvist, market coordinator at Ecolean. For Ecolean, this is yet another step in introducing Lean Cover in Europe. Last year, French retail chain Carrefour switched its butter wraps to the material. The material can also be used for wrapping bakery products, snacks, confections and ready meals, says Barry Twigg, chief executive at National Flexible.