Iceland and Britvic announce new sustainable packaging moves

Supermarket Iceland is launching bread and potatoes in paper packaging, in its latest move to cut plastic waste from its products.

And as firms seek to make packaging more sustainable, Robinsons fruit drinks maker Britvic announced it is accelerating the shift to 100% recycled plastic bottles for its brands, and those it produces under licence such as Pepsi.

Iceland is launching a standard pre-packed loaf of bread in fully recyclable paper packaging and potatoes in 100% plastic-free fully finished paper packaging, to create sustainable wrappers for everyday items.

They are part of seven new plastic-free or heavily reduced plastic product lines introduced as part of a new trial, which also include apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries and mushrooms.

Each trial is being run in different stores and for different periods of time so Iceland can monitor their success.

If the new packaging is successfully rolled out across the food categories, such as all bread lines, and all stores, it would save more than 350 tonnes of plastic a year, the company said.

Iceland managing director Richard Walker said: “These new, innovative packaging trials represent an important step in our journey to completely remove plastic from our own-label ranges by the end of 2023.

“If these trials are successful, the impact on plastic reduction across our almost 1,000 stores will be huge.”

Meanwhile, Britvic has announced moves to make all bottles for all Britvic-owned and PepsiCo brands in Britain from 100% recycled plastic by 2022 – three years earlier than originally planned.

The company produces brands including Robinsons and Tango, as well as brands such Pepsi, 7UP and Lipton Ice Tea in Great Britain under licence from PepsiCo.

Britvic previously announced a deal with Esterform Packaging for the supply of recycled plastic, including £5 million investment support for new manufacturing facilities powered by renewable energy in North Yorkshire.

Sarah Webster, Britvic’s director of sustainable business, said: “We want to be a net positive contributor to the people and the world around us, and we’re committed to minimising waste and using resources in a sustainable way across our business.”

She said accelerating the move to 100% recycled plastic bottles is the right step for Britvic to help reduce its impact on the planet.

And she called for a well-designed, Britain-wide deposit return scheme and changes to the system that charges producers for disposal of their waste to create the required investment in UK recycling infrastructure.