Tesco inspires closed-loop cheese packaging circularity

09 Sep 2020 --- A Tesco’s trial has demonstrated that soft plastic can be continuously recycled into food-grade cheese packaging. The cheese packaging is on sale this week in the UK supermarket’s stores.

Tesco partnered with Plastic Energy, SABIC, Sealed Air and Bradburys Cheese to prove soft plastic can be recycled as part of a closed-loop recycling system.

Retailers use soft plastics to pack bread, pre-prepared salads, meat and cheese, as it helps to maintain freshness and prevent food waste.

According to the 2019 UK Household Plastic Collection Survey, the UK uses almost 400,000 tons of soft plastics every year, but under 21,000 tons are collected, and this is recycled into non-food grade material.

Recycling collection points for soft plastics were introduced into ten Tesco stores in the southwest of England in 2019 to discover ways to address this problem.Click to EnlargeTesco partnered with Plastic Energy, SABIC, Sealed Air and Bradburys Cheese to prove soft plastic can be recycled as part of a closed-loop recycling system (Image credit: Tesco).

Advanced recycling process
Soft plastic material collected from Tesco customers was sent to Plastic Energy who converted the used packaging into oil through an advanced recycling process called pyrolysis.

The recycled oil was used by SABIC in its production process as an alternative to traditional fossil materials to make new plastic pellets that are just as safe and effective as virgin plastic. 

The pellets were used by Sealed Air to develop one of its existing plastic packaging designs to use this material while still meeting all the performance requirements of Tesco’s cheese supplier, Bradburys.

Seven different cheeses packed at Bradburys using this flexible plastic are being stocked in Tesco’s stores. The packaging will contain a minimum of 30 percent recycled material from this new recycling process. 

Tesco’s 4Rs
The closed-loop project comes as a part of Tesco’s 4R Remove, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle program.

“We are removing all excessive and non-recyclable packaging from our business and will ensure everything that remains can be recycled as a part of a closed-loop. This exciting new partnership has the potential to show that every piece of plastic we use can be recycled. If we can roll out this approach at scale throughout our industry, it could be of enormous benefit to our planet,” says James Bull, head of packaging at Tesco. 

“Tesco, a founding member of The UK Plastics Pact, has demonstrated that by taking an innovative and collaborative approach, new solutions can be found to take plastics from in-store collection points to a food-grade packaging format. The next challenge will be to test how scalable it is, and I look forward to seeing how the project progresses,” adds Peter Maddox, director of WRAP UK.

Poor local collection rates
Only 16 percent of local authorities actively collect soft plastic in the UK. Yet, soft plastic packaging makes up 26 percent of all plastic packaging in the country, according to the “PlasticFlow 2025 Plastic Packaging Flow Data Report.”

The number of local authorities collecting soft plastic has declined for the third consecutive year, indicates Recoup’s UK Household Plastics Collection Survey 2019.

Around 90 percent of Tesco’s packaging can already be “widely recycled.” Innovations such as the closed-loop cheese packaging program will help tackle the last 10 percent, the supermarket says.

In July, Terracycle’s zero waste e-commerce platform Loop initiated Phase Two of its pilot Loop process with Tesco: retailer integration.

A recent Greenpeace UK report revealed that UK supermarkets could halve their plastic waste footprints by zeroing in on the 54 most problematic grocery products.

By Joshua Poole

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