Food giant announces roll out of new recyclable paperboard multipack sleeves as part of £25m investment in sustainable packaging innovations
Heinz is rolling out a new paperboard sleeve to replace the plastic shrink-wrap holding together its multipacks of cans, the firm announced today, as part of the US food giant's £25m investment in sustainable packaging innovations.
The new sleeve is fully recyclable and uses PEFC-certified paperboard, which certifies that it comes from renewable and sustainably managed forests, the firm said, confirming the design uses 50 per cent less material than a fully enclosed wraparound box and 10 per cent less than a traditional paperboard sleeve design.
The innovative use of materials means the four-pack paper sleeve has a 19 per cent lower carbon footprint than the preceding shrink-wrap design, the firm added.
The packaging is now available across Heinz Soups and will be launching across all Heinz canned products in the UK in Autumn 2021, the company confirmed.
"It is clear that convenience is important to shoppers - research has found that 59 per cent of UK shoppers say that if a package is easy to carry or transport, it is impactful to their overall satisfaction with the product," said Jojo de Noronha, president of Kraft Heinz Northern Europe. But "sustainable packaging has a significant impact, too, with 71 per cent of UK shoppers agreeing that they are more satisfied with a product if it is easily recycled or composted," she added.
"This new recyclable and easy-to-carry paperboard sleeve ticks both of those boxes and is the perfect eco-friendly solution for our multipacks," de Noronha concluded.
Heinz is also partnering with waste-free online shopping service Loop to collect, clean, and refill used Ketchup glass bottles, and is working to deliver a fully circular plastic Ketchup bottle before the end of 2021 as part of its wider sustainable packaging push, the firm said.