Over 5 million tonnes of food packaging waste is generated in the UK each year, with the raw materials alone costing around £4 billion. Much of this waste is disposed of in landfill sites due to homeowners choosing not to recycle the product, or the product being fabricated from non-recyclable material.
Government involvement at both EU and UK level has formed initiatives to reduce the impact of packaging and packaging waste on the environment.
1. By influencing packaging recovery and recycling rates, and so reduce the amount of packaging disposed into landfill
2. By influencing the amount of packaging actually used in the supply chain.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations seek to:
1. encourage the minimisation of packaging and packaging waste
2. incentivise reuse and increase the recovery and recycling of packaging waste
The key element of this Regulation is the requirement that packaging should be manufactured so that the packaging volume and weight are limited to the minimum amount that is necessary to maintain the required levels of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer.
Many large Companies have pledged support towards reducing packaging for their products, and a number of large manufacturers and retailers have signed up to the Courtauld Commitment to design out packaging waste growth by 2008, deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010 and identify ways to tackle the problem of food waste.
We are able to design, prototype, test and manufacture custom solutions for your product. This can either be a design from scratch or a redesign of an existing packaging solution. We have access to a wide range of materials including degradable and recyclable products to produce cost effective, well designed and ethical solutions to your requirements. We can also offer a wide range of lightweight solutions such as stand up pouches and cook in bags to replace trays.
Please click on the link below to see examples of our Packaging Reduction solutions.