As You Sow, a US not-for-profit organisation that promotes environmental and social responsibility, has urged food and beverage producers to take responsibility for post-consumer packaging and tackle the nation’s dismal recycling and recovery record.
Plastic converters, recyclers and collectors have launched a new Europe-wide accreditation and audit scheme, in the hope of creating a level playing field for recyclers to work with collection schemes in all European countries.
United Biscuits (UB) has partnered with recycling firm TerraCycle UK to introduce a scheme allowing consumers to post used biscuit wrappers to be recycled into every day goods such as waste bins and watering cans.
The final text of the ISO world standards on packaging and the environment has been agreed - with publication scheduled for later this year, said the Netherlands Packaging Centre (NVC).
Price fluctuation, demand exceeding supply and fibre strength are the main concerns for the US food packaging industry using recycled paper fibre, says research.
A plastic recycling firm has opened a new bottle-to-bottle plant in California aimed at ensuring all the state’s PET is processed locally instead of abroad.
United Biscuits (UB) recently became the first major UK food manufacturer to achieve zero waste to landfill at its UK sites. Its sustainability head shares ways other manufacturers can do the same.
A new US recycling facility dedicated to producing food grade post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) flake will fill a “critical void in the marketplace”, according to recycling specialists Perpetual Recycling Solutions.
Waste from pineapple processing could provide a range of value added ingredients for the food industry, including a new source of the enzyme bromelain, say researchers.
A free online course that aims to increase environmental awareness in the food and drink sectors could help processing and packaging SMEs save money and boost their green credentials, said the body championing the initiative.
Tough technological challenges and a lack of infrastructure mean that the vast majority of flexible packaging is almost impossible to recycle, said industry analysts Envicura as it called for the development of novel materials and new waste management...
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has added to the chorus of disapproval greeting the Irish government’s consultation on a possible packaging levy.
Vancouver-based sustainable packaging develop Pakit has announced that it is working with PepsiCo to develop its technology, which turns cellulose fibre from a range of plant materials into moulded board.
The European Commission has called for more research and evaluation to fully understand the best way to maximise benefits from the redesign of plastics and the development of biodegradable alternatives.
UK food manufacturers and the wider food industry are expected to play a significant role in helping to save the UK economy £2bn through preventing waste and curbing CO2 emissions, according to plans from the government-funded, Waste & Resources Action...
General Mills and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are coming under pressure from a shareholder advocacy group to reduce post-consumer waste by collecting and recycling product packaging at their US operations.
A decrease in the package-to-product ratio for some of its snack packs saw financial and environmental gains for Kellogg’s, according to its latest corporate sustainability (CSR) report.
Sharp differences have emerged between a plastics trade group and a local government body over how to solve the growing shortage of recycled plastics in the UK supply chain.
The packaging industry has welcomed an initiative by UK retailers to collect clear plastic films for recycling in a move that could rescue almost 650,000 tons of material going to landfill.
The UK’s first integrated sorting, processing and recycling facility for mixed household plastics has opened in Redcar, Middlesbrough in the north of England.
Allied Bakeries, part of Associated British Foods, is converting to 100 per cent recycled packaging for two of its Kingsmill brand bread products by recycling its 'virgin material' bread bag packaging off-cuts.
A host of big names in UK food and drink including Associated British Foods, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Kraft Foods have added their signatures to the second phase of the Courtauld Commitment.
The maturity of many products means that growth in US demand for green packaging will be a relatively modest 3.9 per cent per year until 2014, according to a new industry report.
Technology to allow the recycling of any plastic has taken a major step forward thanks to the development of a breakthrough process, researchers from the UK have claimed.
Germany recycled 96 per cent of aluminium beverage cans that are part of a national deposit scheme in 2009 – the highest rate in Europe, according to a survey by research institute GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung.
Northern Ireland should aim for significantly higher recycling targets of between 60-70 per cent compared with 50 per cent at present, warns the province’s minister for the environment.
Talking from the Brau Beviale trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany, Rexam executive John Revess outlined the lobbying and marketing work needed to improve the environmental image of the beverage can.
The ability to recycle food-grade polypropelyne (PP) is moving closer to reality, according to the UK government-funded Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
A WRAP investigation suggests that there are viable removable colour decoration techniques available that could encourage recycling of rigid plastic packaging.
A loan scheme to encourage the recycling of mixed plastic packaging has been launched by the UK government funded Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Beverage, meat and snack packaging innovations featured strongly as prize-winners in the DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers awards were announced this week.
United Biscuits is aiming to switch to rPET for all its thermoformed trays by the end of 2010 in a bid to scale up the amount of recycled packaging in its range.
Leading UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has pledged to form partnerships with four local authorities to improve kerbside recycling with the aim of collecting an additional 60,000t of recyclable material from six million people every year within...
Artenius PET Packaging Europe (APPE) said it is to boost the post-consumer rPET content on a range of its preforms and containers after signing a deal with UK plastics recycling company AWS Eco Plastics.
A leading plastics packaging industry body has backed a UK Government cash injection to boost the recycling of mixed plastics household waste by 20,000 tonnes a year.
Cereal, bakery and snack makers are increasingly working to reduce their carbon footprint, reaping cost savings in the process and plugging into new business opportunities, according to a new report from UK industry representatives, the FDF.
Meat processors are lagging behind other industry sectors when it comes to sustainability, according to a report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC).
A ban on dumping packaging and food waste in landfill will form the heart of a consultation exercise by the UK Government in 2010 as part of plans to slash waste.
The growing popularity of single-serving packaging will help to drive 22 per cent growth in global demand for rigid plastic packaging from $129.2bn this year to $158.3bn in 2014, predicts a new study by Pira International.
Claimed to be “a design breakthrough,” the new range of packaging for bakery and confectionery products is said to be easier to stack, improve presentation while being more environmentally friendly than other offerings, according to manufacturers Sharp...
A projected surge in demand for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) materials in food and beverage packing has triggered a US company to announce plans for a second recycling plan, just a month after its first opened.
Calls by town hall chiefs to force UK supermarkets to publish packaging statistics have been dismissed as a publicity stunt by an industry body, which said retailers already use the minimum of packing material.
