Waitrose adopts fiber-based Huhtamaki ready meal trays, bins black plastic

23 May 2019 --- UK supermarket Waitrose & Partners has launched an Italian ready meal range in new fiber-based trays from Finnish food packaging supplier Huhtamaki. The new trays – called Fresh – are microwaveable and ovenable and intended to provide a more sustainable alternative to black plastic. They can be recycled and they are also certified for home composting.

As the drive for more sustainable packaging has intensified, the demand for black plastics is ebbing away. Despite the relative cost-effectiveness and shelf-appeal of black plastics in applications such as ready meals, they are notoriously difficult to recycle, meaning many leading retailers have taken action to remove them from stores.

Unlike clear or white plastic, black plastics cannot typically be detected by machines used in the post-use plastic sorting process and the dark pigment limits its uses in recycling streams. As a result, these plastics have a lower market value and most Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) view them as contaminants, with landfill or incineration often being the most cost-effective options for their disposal.

Huhtamaki has moved to offer a fiber-based alternative to black plastics with its Fresh trays. For Waitrose’s purposes, the Fresh trays are packed at Saladworks and the fiber used as the base material comes from the Swedish forest company Södra. Fresh trays are made from natural materials and the wood fiber comes from certified, sustainable Nordic forests. This means that per every tree cut down, three more trees are planted.

Nikki Grainge, Packaging Development Manager from Waitrose & Partners in the UK explains that the supermarket is committed to eradicating the use of black plastics by the end of 2019.

“We have been testing the new trays since May 2018 and have received very positive feedback from our customers,” Grainge says. “Now, with the current launch on Italian range moving to the new tray, we'll be able to move nearly nine million meals out of black plastic.”

“The project started in 2016 with the aim to find alternative food packaging for trays made from black plastic, most often CPET. The reason to avoid this material is not only its fossil origin but also because it is problematic to recycle due to the detection systems used in end-of-life material separation,” adds Steve Davey, Project Manager from Huhtamaki.

An important accelerator was the EU's Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking program for research and innovation, securing the initial funding and helping build the core team. The team wanted to spearhead the new concept in the UK, which is one of the most significant markets for ready meals in Europe.

“Demand for sustainable alternatives is increasing from both manufacturers and customers. For Södra, the collaboration in Fresh project offers an opportunity to learn more about how we can use our bio-based raw materials as an alternative to fossil packaging in such an important area of use as food packaging,” says Catrin Gustavson, Head of Innovation & New business at Södra.

“Huhtamaki has extensive knowledge in the molded fiber technology, which is used to manufacture the trays for Waitrose. Together with the team, we were able to test alternatives and find the right solution all the way from pulp to the retail shelves,” explains Davey.

Davey notes that the supplier is continuing to develop the properties of Fresh further and believes that there are many new application possibilities for it.

Although black plastics are notoriously difficult to sort and recycle, recent innovations designed to increase the detectability of black plastic has shown that there could be a future for the material in a more sustainable future. For example, this week Unilever announced a new detectable black pigment for its High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) bottles that enables them to be sorted by plant scanners and recycled. The new bottles will roll out this year for the TRESemmé and Lynx brands.

Likewise, German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel is set to launch a fully recyclable black plastic bottle for its Bref products. The new packaging material – developed by specialist plastic supplier Ampacet – uses an alternative carbon-free black color, enabling used bottles to be detected by recycling facility NIR optical sensors and integrated back into the value chain.