Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal packaging is going fully paper based with the trial of a paper liner in the UK that can be widely recycled. The pilot will take part in partnership with Tesco in a small number of stores from January 2022 with the results helping to shape Kellogg’s future packaging plans. The plastic inner liner in cereal boxes is not currently widely accepted in kerbside recycling. Kellogg’s packaging technologists have worked to create paper-based inner packaging for its cereal that can survive the process of filling and sealing millions of bags in boxes of cereal produced in its factory and transporting them to retailers. The outer recycled card packaging of the company’s cereals boxes are fully recyclable and have been for many years. This is part of Kellogg’s Wellbeing Manifesto launched in May this year. The new action plan is a decade-long commitment from the company to improve its food and packaging so that it’s better for people, the planet and the community. The company says the results of this trial are crucial as it plans for fully recyclable cereal packaging whether that’s plastic liners being recyclable at kerbside similar to countries like Ireland and Belgium, or the roll out of cereal packaging that is fully paper based. It’s also important the cereal is kept fresh inside a paper liner as cereal has a 12-month shelf life. Chris Silcock, Kellogg UK and Ireland Managing Director, said: “We know people want to do more to help the planet and that’s why we are working hard towards meeting our commitment of all Kellogg’s packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of 2025. This important trial of fully paper cereal packaging ensures we have explored all our options. “Ultimately, we would prefer plastic liners to be accepted in home recycling as our data tells us that they are better for the planet over the full life cycle of the packaging, but this trial ensures we have an alternative.” Tesco grocery director, David Beardmore, said: “We are committed to working with our suppliers to remove, reduce, reuse and recycle packaging, particularly plastic. It’s great to see that Kellogg is trialling a paper cereal bag in our stores – our customers will be pleased that they can easily recycle the bag at home. We call on suppliers to test and roll out actions like this; using as little material as possible and making sure that necessary packaging is easy to recycle.” Kellogg and Tesco have been working closely on several initiatives to improve the recyclability of their packaging and previously trialled a fully recyclable Pringle’s paper can in 2020.

The UK Plastics Pact’s third annual report, published today by global NGO WRAP, shows good collective progress against the UK Plastics Pact’s four ambitious environmental targets – year on year, while further action is required to scale the recycling of plastic bags and wrapping. A key achievement since its launch in 2018 has been a consistent and significant reduction in consumer plastic packaging by brands and retailers. Comparing data for members that have reported each year, there has been a 10% drop in plastic packaging on supermarket shelves, with problematic and unnecessary plastic items falling by 46% since 2018. This 10% reduction equates to a CO2e reduction of 335,000t – equivalent to taking 150,000 cars off the road since the Pact began. Marcus Gover, WRAP CEO, “The UK Plastics Pact arose at a time of great public concern about plastic pollution and has been a constant and practical programme for collective change to reset our relationship with plastics. Comparing 2020 against 2018, it has shown strong progress against its environmental targets during a period of unmitigated societal upheaval. “I believe this work should inspire us when we think about the enormous efforts needed to tackle climate change, and how innovation and experimentation can drive forward action through strong public-private partnerships. The results of real-life reuse and refill trials carried out under the Pact are extremely exciting for how we could shop packaging-free in the future. We see a 50% growth in plastics reprocessing in the UK, which is a massive improvement and Recycle Week marked a record high in terms of the numbers of people recycling – helping complete the cycle of plastics to keep them in the economy and out of the environment. But as COP26 made clear, we have a long way to go and little time to make big changes.” Today’s report also highlights a number of key developments during the last twelve months. Innovations in recycling plastic bags and wrapping through increased front of store collections are beginning to offer the opportunity to scale up the collection and recycling of these challenging materials, crucial to hit the Pact’s recycling target. WRAP, which published the industry best practice guidance on front of store collections in 2021, is urging more supermarkets to implement collections to increase the number of citizens using collection points ahead of future kerbside collections. The charity has also raised concerns that further investment from industry for critical UK recycling infrastructure is required, particularly for plastic bags and wrapping. Through the actions of The UK Plastics Pact, WRAP is also pushing forward a drive to increase trials for reuse and refill operations. Sharing the resulting evidence will help members expand these models to become a behavioural norm for millions more shoppers across the UK, in the years to come. The results of the annual report also highlight the doubling of the amount of recycled content in packaging to 18% since 2018. This reduces the pressure put on natural resources, helping to keep oil in the ground and mitigate global warming. The results show more than one million barrels of virgin oil have been saved through recycled content use. WRAP says this progress puts Pact members on track to hit 30% average recycled content by 2025 but warns that it is imperative we continue to get high quality recycled material for reprocessing. And that improving material quality through designing for recyclability and increasing the amount of plastic packaging recycled and collected, is as crucial as ever. Jo Churchill, Resources and Waste Minister, “The UK Plastics Pact is creating a real sea change and shows how businesses are rising to the challenge of cutting their use of plastic and increasing recycling. But there is more we must do – and that is why we are consulting on banning a range of further single-use plastics and, through our exciting new Environment Act, we will make manufacturers more responsible for their packaging. With strong action from government and businesses, we can drastically reduce waste, make better use of our resources and protect our natural environment.”

Leading robotics and automation company, RMGroup, will be partnering with packaging technology and machinery specialists, Atlanta Packaging, to showcase automated packaging solutions for the brewing and beverage industry at the Brewers Congress, held at one of London’s most iconic event spaces: The Brewery. The event takes place on 7-8 December, with RMGroup and Atlanta exhibiting on booth 104 on the second day. The Brewers Congress is the premier meeting of the UK and wider brewing industry, providing a well crafted mix of lectures and talks, with a trade exhibition and beer tasting. With 450 attendees, 22 speakers and 300 breweries represented, the congress presents an ideal opportunity for both RMGroup and Atlanta to provide visitors to their booth with an insight of industry leading end of line packaging solutions, including case packing, stretch wrapping, robot palletising and AGVs. A selection of both RMGroup and Atlanta product videos will be displayed on the booth to give an immersive experience of their capabilities. Edward Pugh, RMGroup’s sales director, said: “We very much look forward to some good discussions with interested parties at the congress. Between ourselves and Atlanta, we have amassed many years experience of providing the beverage industry with some of the best automated packaging solutions available.” Atlanta Packaging’s Roger Cope added: “In partnering with RMGroup it’s great to be able to exhibit together and be on hand to support their stretch wrapping offering. In addition, we are very much looking forward to promoting our case packaging solutions which have already proved very successful in a number of brewing and beverage applications.