Confectioner says it was ‘first to move into plastic-free packaging’

An award-winning meringue maker says it has ‘beaten the likes of Mars and Nestlé to become the first company in the confectionery sector to move into plastic-free packaging’.

Flower & White’s gourmet product - Meringue Bites – uses an innovative paper-based pouch with a heat-sealable coating and sells its gourmet treats in outlets from Selfridges to QVC, as well as overseas to America, Canada, Germany and Australia.

Co-founder Leanne Crowther told ConfectioneryNews: "We read about Nestle’s claims it had unveiled the world's-first cold-seal bar wrap, which biodegrades within six months, with great interest and a little disbelief, given we've taken great pains to develop a 100% recyclable and completely compostable (within 12 weeks) paper bar and pouch pack to house our amazing meringue bars and bites which really is a world first.”​

Crowther said the company launched its innovation in June, a month before the Nestlé announcement​.

High-speed line

When contacted by ConfectioneryNews, a spokesperson for Nestlé said it didn’t want to comment directly on Flower & White’s process but reiterated its claim that it was the first time it had been possible for paper packaging to be used on a high-speed line (300 bars a minute), in the same way it had only been possible to use plastic/laminates previously.

The Nestlé spokesperson said: “The YES! wrapper was never intended as a biodegradable wrapper and we don’t want it to end up as litter. The point of the innovation is that it is paper and therefore widely recyclable in the way that ​our plastic wrappers weren’t​.”

Flower & White says it has also relaunched its successful Meringue Bars’ range in paper sleeves as part of a wider commitment to improve sustainability and reduce energy at its 13,000 sq ft premises in the UK.

"It is really fantastic to see some of the big players in confectionery making positive steps in acting responsibly to reduce their huge and impactful carbon footprint. But, while the Swiss supplier has managed to develop an improved wrap for its confections, it still has not quite achieved the same as us here at Flower & White, a family run British baker from Shropshire which hit the headlines long before Nestlé's announcement​,” Crowther said.