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Heinz and UK supermarket Tesco have joined forces with packaging industry experts to develop and trial recycled soft plastic Heinz Beanz Snap Pots.

Both companies have teamed up with Plastic Energy, Sabic and Berry Global to design and produce the new packaging with efforts to encourage the recycling of soft plastic waste in the UK.

The newly designed Heinz Beanz Snap Pots are made from 39% soft recycled plastic collected from Tesco customers and retain the original features such as packaging convenience, snappable format, microwaveability and food freshness.

The recycled plastic used in the snappable pots has been certified by the ISCC, a global sustainability certification system.

Jojo de Noronha, president of Northern Europe at Heinz, commented: "We’re proud to have teamed up with leading experts to bring this important innovation to our customers. Our hope is that this prompts an industry-wide look at what more can be done to address the lack of soft plastics being recycled in the UK and we can, as a collective, get better when it comes to developing new packaging solutions that are both good for both our consumers and for our planet."

Once used, the pots can be recycled as part of kerbside collections.