Tesco Ireland recycles soft plastics into flower pots with Green Generation and Paltech

26 Apr 2022 --- Tesco Ireland has teamed up with local manufacturing companies Green Generation and Paltech to create flower planters made of 100% recycled soft plastic.

The supermarket became the first Irish retailer to introduce in-store customer return collection points for soft plastics from product packaging in 2021. This latest solutionsees customer waste soft plastic taken to a purpose-built site in County Offaly, Ireland, where it’s cleaned, sorted and molded into slate-grey flower planters.  

The new heavyweight pots, which are now on sale in Tesco stores nationwide, have “impressive” durability, long lifespan, weigh 7 kg each and can be further recycled at their end of life through Paltech’s unique process. 

Each planter can also be used to grow garden plants and flowers and in turn, improve biodiversity.

Joe Manning, Commercial Director, Tesco Ireland, says: “When it comes to plastic, our priority remains to remove where we can or reduce its use on our products when we can’t remove it completely. Where it serves a purpose, such as protecting a product or preventing food waste, we are working hard to ensure that the packaging material is recyclable for consumers and can go on to be used again.”

Flexible plastic recycling infrastructure is severely lackaging in the UK and Ireland.It is estimated that roughly 5% of flexible plastics are recycled each year due to a lack of collection and infrastructure. 

Paltech partnership 
The recycled plastic pot, designed and made in Ireland from 100% mixed plastic packaging, results from Tesco’s partnership with Paltech, a sister company of the supermarket’s food waste partner, Green Generation.  

The company recently commissioned a new €2 million (US$2.14 million) facility in Clara, County Offaly to manufacture recycled plastic products, including flowerpots. The facility, which employs 15 people, will recycle an estimated 70 metric tons of customer waste plastic to create 10,000 plant pots over the coming months. 

Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, remarks: “This is a good example of the circular economy in action. I welcome the investment in Clara and the new jobs it brings. It is a tangible example of waste plastic being recycled into useful products. I hope as many shoppers as possible will think about how they can recycle their plastic waste. This offers an opportunity to do that at the point of sale.”

“Bringing these flowerpots to the market, made entirely from end-of-life waste soft plastic, is an important step in creating a closed-loop solution for plastic at this time. We recognize we have more to do and continue to work hard to meet our target of making all packaging on Tesco-brand products fully recyclable by 2025.” 

Green generation 
Paul Costello, Green Generation director, comments: “We’re very proud to have worked with Tesco over the last year as we developed and refined our circular approach for mixed soft plastic waste and bring this product to the market under the Paltech brand.”

“We continue to work with our engineers to improve our innovative system for long-life products to support the country’s ambition in reaching the EU recycling commitment of 55% of all packaging waste to be recycled by 2030.” 

Using Paltech-patented technology, these waste soft plastics can be repurposed into construction materials that, in turn, have the scope to be used in the Tesco Ireland store network for new stores and in-store maintenance and refits, including buildings, car-park barriers and signage in the near future. 

The recycled plastic pots will be available for sale in 76 Tesco stores this month and will retail at €25 (US$26.7). 

By Louis Gore-Langton