Customers who have crunched their way through an entire tube of Pringles will soon recycle the packaging for the first time, following a new partnership between brand owner Kellogg's and recycling firm TerraCycle announced yesterday. 

Pringles and Lucozade Sport were among a number of packaged products criticised by recycling experts last year for being difficult to recycle, as well as cleaning spray bottles, black plastic food trays and whisky packaging.

But Kellogg's said yesterday it has struck a deal meaning customers can, from December, send their used Pringles tubes for recycling via freepost to TerraCycle. Customers are rewarded with a donation to a charity of their choice in return for each tube.

TerraCycle - which also recently teamed up with Walkers in a similar deal to recycle crisp packets - will then recycle the Pringles tubes into pellets which it said could be used to create new products such as benches and fence posts.

Kellogg's revealed yesterday it has set its sights on ensuring 100 per cent of its packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable across its business worldwide by 2025.

It said the target would help contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goal on consumption and production.

As part of its work to meet the goal, Kellogg's said it is also planning to introduce new 'recycle-ready' cereal pouches by late 2019. It said this would help remove 480 tonnes of non-recyclable packaging from its UK and European supply chains each year.

The new packaging targets build on the company's existing target to ensure 100 per cent of all its timber-based packaging is either recycled or certified as sustainably sourced.

Oli Morton, Kellogg's UK's managing director, positioned the move as a response to changing consumer demand. "While most of our packaging in the UK is sustainably sourced, made from recycled materials and fully recyclable, we feel it's our responsibility to continue to develop new creative packaging formats that answer the needs of our consumers and customers," he said.

In related news, UK consumer goods firm PZ Cussons yesterday also unleashed a set of new sustainability targets for reducing plastic waste and deforestation across its business.

By 2025 the company - which owns personal care brands such as Imperial Leather, Carex, Sanctuary, and Original Source - is aiming to reduce the amount of plastic it uses by 25 per cent and ensure 100 per cent of any remaining plastic it uses is reusable, recyclable or compostable.

Moreover, it has pledged to ensure all of its plastic packaging is made from at least 30 per cent recycled materials.

Sam Plant, corporate services director at PZ Cussons, said the plastic waste drive would build on the company's success to date in light-weighting its bottles, introducing refills and reducing plastic by hundreds of tonnes across its business in Europe and Asia.

It follows the EU Parliament's vote on Wednesday in favour of a sweeping crackdown on single-use plastics, including proposed bans on the sale of items such as plastic straws, cutlery, cotton buds and balloon sticks and from 2021.

In addition, the PZ Cussons has published an action plan setting out how the company intends to deliver its Palm Oil Promise to source 100 per cent of its palm oil from producers independently verified with NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) standards by 2020.

The company stressed that while achieving sustainability across the palm oil industry was "extremely challenging" it did not believe switching to an alternative ingredient - as UK supermarket Iceland controversially promised to do earlier this year - was the right option.

Alternatives to palm oil, such as soy or vegetable oil, require even more land to produce the equivalent amount of oil, it argued.

"Of course, we recognise that we are not able to meet these commitments alone, that's why we are working closely with our direct suppliers, our joint venture partners and with NGOs," explained Plant. "Our starting point is to shift our sourcing towards suppliers that can demonstrate that they have credible systems to monitor the producers in their supply chains to ensure they are fully compliant with NDPE standards throughout their operations."