Confectionery and biscuit company Pladis UK & Ireland aims to make all its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
The firm, which owns brands such as McVitie’s and Jacob’s, will be improving labelling and joining the On-Pack Recycling Label scheme to ensure consumers are clear on how and where to recycle their packaging.
It has also extended a partnership with TerraCycle, so that all its plastic packaging across the portfolio can now be recycled, and has joined the UK Plastics Pact.
Scott Snell, customer vice-president at Pladis UK & Ireland, said: “In many ways, plastic is a fantastic material; it’s lightweight, keeping fuel use down during transportation, it’s durable and it keeps our food fresh, dramatically cutting down on food waste. But these same properties mean that plastic is causing extensive damage to our wildlife and oceans, so we need to make sure that it is recycled and reused, rather than ending up in the environment.
“This is why we’re announcing a comprehensive strategy for the long term, while at the same time taking important steps that will have an impact right now. We’ll be working closely with industry partners to make all our plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, and in the meantime, we want to make sure all our consumers have the opportunity to recycle their wrappers, which is why we’ve extended our TerraCycle partnership to our entire snacking range.
“97% of households buy biscuits over the festive period, and the vast majority of these contain plastic packaging that could be recycled through Pladis’ TerraCycle partnership so now is the perfect time to start recycling those wrappers.”
Although flexible plastic wrappers are not collected by local council recycling collections, Pladis UK & Ireland has partnered with recycling company TerraCycle for over six years to enable consumers to recycle wrappers.
Tom Szaky, CEO and Founder of TerraCycle, said: “Pladis has been a valued partner of TerraCycle’s for a number of years now in the UK and Ireland. Firstly, for the biscuit wrapper category, and more recently it was great to see them expand the programme to cover the cracker and cake wrapper categories which was well received by consumers.”
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