New packaging innovations from Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE Peet), Pringles and plant-based food manufacturer Upfield have made it a busy month in the paper category this January.
First up, JDE Peet's are rolling out several home-recyclable paper refill packs in the UK for their instant coffee range including brands Douwe Egberts, Kenco and L'Or. These new packs are made from over 85% paper following a year of research, development and testing - reducing the packaging of a standard 200g glass jar by 97%. In doing so, the coffee giant becomes the first coffee brand in the market to swap out plastic packaging for paper refills in the UK.
Marketing Director for UK and Ire for JDE Peet, Roberto de Felice said: "Research shows consumers want to embrace reusable and refillable packaging, 76% of shoppers are looking to recycle more – but 'ease of recycling' can be a significant barrier.
"Our new packs will help empower consumers to make greener choices by making it easier to recycle and driving wider adoption of refills," he added.
In the snacking category, Pringles has unveiled a drastic new look for its iconic crisp tubes across supermarkets in the UK. The new tubes are made from 90% paper packaging - a paperboard can with a foil-lined interior. These new tubes will roll out across Tesco and One Stop stores nationwide, before being introduced at other retailers later in the year.
These new tubes can now be recycled at home in your usual recycling bins or boxes. This replaces the need to recycle the previous tubes at specialist collection points, called Bring Banks, which were set up thanks to a partnership with Terracycle, one that's seen over 377,000 Pringles tubes recycled since 2019.
Finally, plant-baed food manufacturer Upfield, owner of the iconic Flora brand, has earlier this month unveiled what it claims is the "world's first" plastic-free recyclable tub for its plant butters and spreads. The step-change comes after four years of research and development and marks the beginning of the manufacturer's transition to using more paper-based packaging solutions across its portfolio - with the goal of reducing plastic content use by 80% by the year 2030.
The new design comes from a collaboration with Footprint, a materials science organisation that engineers fibre-based packaging in an effort to address the environmental crisis of plastic pollution. The new tubs are made from compressed wet paper fibres and are recyclable in your paper waste boxes at home, much like the new Pringles tubes.
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