FOR STARTERS …
Chill out
Bakkavor have launched "Heat and Enjoy", their new chilled brand across ready meals, desserts, and sides. The packaging benefits from our K Peel lidding film, which provides a strong peel to PP trays, is suitable for microwave heating and has anti-fog properties for excellent product presentation in the chiller cabinet.
Veg out
BOL foods are putting veg in the centre of the table this week, with the launch of their new range BOL Centrepieces. As they say: "Just pop in the oven, whip up some simple sides and have a restaurant-worthy meal for two made easy."
This is another product that looks great in a foil tray. You may not be aware, but our K Foil is the world's first range of lidding films explicitly designed for foil trays. It was developed in the late 1990s in response to a request from Marks & Spencer.
Also this week …
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation have launched Upstream Innovation: A Guide to Packaging Solutions, "rethinking the packaging, product, and business model to prevent and design out packaging waste".
"The Plastics Paradox" is the science-based book by Dr Chis DeArmitt that claims almost everything we have been told is untrue about plastics and the environment. Read the first few chapters of the book for free here.
Eating less beef and more beans would cut deaths by 5-7%, according to the World Economic Forum. And the global plant-based meat alternatives market is expected increase to £3.15 billion, according to a report from analysts Research & Markets.
At KM, we're helping to meet the demand with vegan-suitable films that offer an animal-free alternative for plant-based products.
Packaging is not to be underestimated, says Barbara Siegert, expert for food and packaging with the management consultation Munich Strategy. "If there is no packaging, there is no protection. The freshness is lost faster, the goods are more susceptible to defects – a constant quality is more difficult to regulate."
Change and Challenge have shared an inspiring video about the wastefulness that's exemplified Black Friday. It resonates with us at KM where we advocate using less to do more, down-gauging packaging, using mono-materials when possible, and utilising performance packaging when and where necessary to protect food and extend shelf life.
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
Flexible Packaging Europe's latest infographic video highlights the resource efficiency of flexible packaging.
RECYCLING EFFICIENCY
Biffa is one of 17 industry partners, including Co-op, in a new £1.5m collaborative venture which aims to develop simpler methods of plastic recycling. It is led by the University of Manchester and funded by the Government as part of the UKRI's "Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging" initiative.
The "one bin" project challenges waste collection methods as well as "improving UK recycling infrastructure so that more recycled material can be fed back into a plastics circular economy".
CHEMICAL EFFICIENCY
As much as half of all global plastics packaging could be recycled by 2040 if chemical recycling technologies are widely adopted, according to energy research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie.
They highlight that more investment is needed into chemical recycling technologies that are able to “reduce fossil fuel extraction and carbon dioxide emissions, and give value to difficult-to-recycle plastics waste by acting as a complement to mechanical recycling.”
ALTERNATIVES RESEARCH
- Algae and seaweeds are being put under the microscope at the University of Hohenheim in an EU research project looking for new, sustainable food additives and packaging materials.
- Optimising the use of compostable plastics for multiple food packaging applications is the focus of research at the University of Strathclyde, a recent winner of SSPP funding.
PLASTIC IS SAFE, SAY THE EXPERTS
The safety of plastic food packaging has been confirmed by experts from AIMPLAS, the Technological Institute of Plastics.
They have concluded: "Plastic is the best option for foodstuffs that must be packaged to be protected from degradation due to external factors, as well as contamination by odours, micro-organisms and dust, given updated legislation and a series of scientific protocols applicable to the current manufacturing system."
EVERYONE'S A WINNER
The tray revolution
Evolve by Faerch, made from recycled bottles and trays, has been awarded the "Plastprisen 2020" by the Danish Plastics Federation for its unique and sustainable packaging solution. It can be repeatedly and fully recycled into new mono-material PET trays.
Evolve was introduced as a solution to the UK challenge of black tray recycling. And, at KM, we now we work with food producers around the world, including extensively in the UK and Australia, providing lidding solutions for the Evolve trays, as we meet the demand for sustainable, ovenable ready-meal packaging solutions.
Asda claim to have been the first to have transitioned their ready meal range to Evolve last year, and other major UK retailers are now packaging their products in a rainbow of Evolve colours.
Also ...
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
From the KM team … Stay Safe, Keep Up The Good Work, and Value Plastic.