Tesco to create Heinz Snap Pots with soft recycled plastics
10 Jun 2022 --- Heinz and Tesco are teaming up to bring recyclable Snap Pots to supermarket shelves made from recycled soft plastics collected through Tesco’s in-store collection scheme. The move will initially reintroduce 22 metric tons of plastic back into the UK’s circular economy.
Tesco started collecting soft plastic in all its large stores in 2021 to help plug a long-standing gap in the UK’s recycling collection services, which typically reject various soft plastics. Once Tesco collects, as much of the material as possible is recycled into new products and packaging.
The recycled material will be used to create Heinz Beanz Snap Pots, which are microwavable home cooking designs. Approximately 39% of the pots will be from recycled material.
“This innovative collaboration is one of the ways that soft plastic returned to stores by our customers will be recycled into new food-grade packaging,” says Sarah Bradbury, Tesco’s group quality director.
“After doing everything we can to remove and reduce plastic, we want to develop circular recycling solutions like this so the materials we use stay in our packaging and out of the environment.”
Tesco soft plastic collection schemes were set up to aid the lack of recycling for flexible plastics in the UK.Trial date
The trial is set to begin in July, and the firms said they hoped it would lead to an “important change across the wider food industry when it comes to tackling the UK’s soft plastic recycling challenge.”
The latest trial supports Heinz’s global pledge to aim to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, Heinz says.
“The new packaging gives our consumers an easy way to reduce their impact on the environment without having to give up the convenience of their favorite Heinz Beanz in a microwavable pot,” said Jojo de Noronha, president for Northern Europe at Heinz.
“What’s more, knowing that this type of plastic can now be made into useful food-grade packaging like our Snap Pots could encourage more people to drop it off at their local collection point until more permanent recycling infrastructure for these materials is put in place, rather than adding them to landfill.”
Flexible problems
The recycled plastic used in the snappable pots is certified by the ISCC. Soft plastics, which are often used in packaging bread, snacks, and crisps, have historically been difficult to recycle. They play an important role in the preservation of food and reducing food waste but are rarely collected for recycling by councils due to limited recycling capacity for the material. As a result, in 2020, just 6% of UK soft plastics were recycled.
The latest announcement was welcomed by Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill, who says: “It is great to see Heinz and Tesco working together to trial packaging to boost recycling levels. Businesses across the UK are stepping up to tackle plastic pollution, and we want to incentivize them to do so. Through our landmark Environment Act, we are also making it easier for consumers to recycle more.”
Last year, Producer compliance scheme Ecosurety and environmental charity Hubbub launched The Flexible Plastic Fund, a UK industry initiative aimed at making flexible plastic recycling economically viable for recyclers and easier for consumers. The Fund has already received £1 million (approximately US$1.4 million) in backing from Mars UK, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever.
By Louis Gore-Langton
