Sustainable convenience packaging.

Changes in packagingrelated legislation and consumer expectations are leading to a changing food to go packaging landscape with operators and suppliers alike keener than ever before to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

The UK foodservice market continues to grow at pace, with sustainable food packaging high on the agenda for many ‘food on the move’ solution providers.

Today’s consumers are not only looking for appealing and easy to use convenience options, but they are also becoming increasingly mindful of the environmental impact of the products they buy.

To accelerate the industry’s transition towards circularity, food packaging supplier, Faerch, launched Evolve into its existing Plaza range as an off the shelf product off er to provide food distributors with a fully circular alternative to traditional clear PET packaging.

“Evolve by Faerch is designed to close the loop on food packaging and therefore plays a key role in the industry’s transition towards a true circular economy. The Evolve by Faerch Plaza bowls are made from recycled household post-consumer material which, after use, can be recycled into new mono-material food packaging without any loss of quality,” says David Lucas, sales director of foodservice, UK and Ireland at Faerch UK Ltd.

The Plaza range provides a stylish and practical serving solution for salads and pastas, and the bowls have been designed to enhance on-shelf presentation and appeal and are available in a wide range of sizes, which can be stacked for space-effi cient storage. The bowls vary in colour too, refl ecting the recycled material they are made from and eff ectively communicating the sustainable nature of the bowls to the end-consumer, thus attracting attention and impacting buying decisions, feel Faerch.

Today, most of the recycled PET on the market is derived from transparent bottles, report the company. However, with more and more companies sourcing recycled PET, the demand for recycled bottle content has increased signifi cantly, but claiming to be the world’s fi rst integrated recycler of PET food packaging, Faerch says that it is off ering tray to tray recycling on an industrial scale (the company’s recycling facility in the Netherlands is capable of taking in used post-consumer trays from collectors, sorters and recycling them back into food grade mono-material, again and again).

“From bans to taxes, a seemingly never-ending raft of legislation around foodservice packaging is coming through, with an inevitable huge amount of confusion,” says Celebration Packaging’s managing director, Nick Burton.

“Single-use packaging bans, the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), raw material shortages, rising energy prices, and the increasing cost of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) will mean that suppliers need to absorb extra costs or pass them on to their customers.

“Outright bans on plastic products are being introduced in a fragmented way across the UK. Northern Ireland already has bans in place, and there’s an unknown timeframe for England and Wales.

“Scotland’s single-use plastics ban became fully eff ective on 12 August, after the UK government opted to exempt it from the Internal Market Act. This led to a much-publicised debate around Scottish businesses which were left with stocks which were not allowed to be exported to businesses in England and beyond, or given to charities, for example, to help feed the homeless or refugees in camps on the Ukraine border.

“Where bans exist or are planned, the obvious action for an operator is to work with a supplier who can provide viable non-plastic packaging alternatives.”

Implemented in April, the aim of the PPT is “to increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging”. Charged at a rate of £200 per tonne of packaging, it applies to plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content and to both packaging manufactured in, and imported into, the UK. The tax impacts a wide range of plastic packaging formats and applies to all polymer types, including biobased and compostable plastics. In respect of foodservice packaging, it applies to single-use packaging designed to be used by consumers to contain food. “Celebration Packaging has actively contributed to the HMRC PPT Industry Working Group, and worked hard to inform our customers about its impact. We’ve discovered that there is a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding around PPT, and will continue to help where we can. However, we would recommend either referring to, or even joining the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) which has ensured our industry’s voice is heard, and in our opinion remains the ‘go-to’ on the whole subject,” says Nick Burton.

“In my opinion, the PPT was rushed and is ill-conceived. The government missed an opportunity to promote the use of reusable plastic products, which make an important contribution to reducing the use of plastic. While plastic storage boxes are exempt, the tax still applies to reusable foodservice packaging,” Nick Burton continues.

“One of our restaurant customers is saving many tonnes of plastic a year by using our microwavable reusable portion packaging instead of singleuse plastic packaging, for example. However, they are not necessarily being rewarded for it, as the tax is applied on a weight basis, and to be serviceable, reusable packaging is generally thicker and heavier.”

Celebration Packaging say that their reusable containers are made from virgin polypropylene (PP) and can be sent for recycling at the end of their life.

“One of the side-eff ects of the PPT being hastily introduced is that the demand for recycled plastic resin has increased dramatically and supply cannot keep up with demand. This has led to big increases in manufacturing costs when producing plastic products with a minimum of 30% recycled content. It is now often cheaper to supply products made from 100% virgin plastic resin and for the customer to pay the PPT than to buy packaging made with a minimum of 30% recycled resin!” Nick Burton points out.

“We remain committed to seeking out and providing more environmentally-friendly packaging, and we continue to add more and more products made from sustainable materials.

“Operators needs to consider the raw materials used to manufacture packaging products, but also their end-of-life disposal. We launched our EnviroWare ® range over 14 years ago and can advise out of home operators about which products best suit their business. “As the EU and the UK continue with their plans to ban single-use plastics, we believe that demand for products such as our EnviroWare will continue to grow, and we have seen a big increase in demand for reusable plastic products as opposed to single-use products.

“We are constantly looking to lead the conversation on recycling and commercial composting, having invested in fully understanding the implications of existing and upcoming legislation, so as a consultative-minded business we would always encourage operators to talk to their packaging suppliers to ensure they are using the most appropriate and sustainable food packaging.”

Responding to market demand for quality, sustainability, and secure supply, Colpac has launched its new range of FSC® certifi ed multi-food pots which are manufactured at its UK factory.