Produce Packaging prides itself on bringing innovation to
the UK Fresh Produce Market from around the world. However where
ever possible we focus on sourcing our products from suppliers as
close to the UK as possible, helping to reduce contamination from
transport.
We believe that an environmentally friendly product,
should not only be produced from renewable source materials and be
easily recycled or composted following use, but that the entire
Carbon Foot print of the product should be minimised. For this
reason, we source all of our Paper Pulp products from European
manufacturers with the majority coming from Cullen Packaging,
Scotland.
Over the past 35 years Produce Packaging has been involved
in a number of projects to substitute materials, reduce the weight
of materials and innovate new materials. In each of these cases the
primary objective of packaging a product has always been at the
forefront of any change, Packaging should Protect the product it is
being used to package. As you can imagine in the Fresh Produce
industry this is a key requirement of all packaging, however
packaging can also be used to Promote the item that is packed, and
Extend Shelf Life of the packed product. Sometimes the reason for
using packaging is not clear to the consumer, for example the film
used to wrap a cucumber has been proven to extend the shelf life of
the product, therefore reducing food waste.
We believe that education of the supply chain and the end
user is key, we need to ensure that if a product is not
compostable, then is should be easily recycled. Below are some
examples;
- Our Paper Pulp materials - Are manufactured in
the UK from waste papers and can be easily recycled in most local
authority recycling collections, or Composted in both Industrial
and Home composting facilities
- Our Cartonboard materials - Are
manufactured in the UK using a high percentage of recycled papers
and can be easily recycled in most local authority recycling
collections.
- Our Corrugated Boxes - Are manufactured in the
UK using a high percentage of recycled papers and can be easily
recycled in most local authority recycling collections.
- Our Solid Board Boxes - Are manufactured in
the Netherlands using a high percentage of recycled papers and can
be easily recycled in most local authority recycling
collections.
- Our Punnets and Over Wrap trays - Are produced
using mainly R PET. This is where recycled A PET is collected,
(largely used drinks bottles) granulated, cleaned and re used to
produce New R PET Sheet. To ensure material quality this sheet is
usually an A-B-A structure with Virgin A PET on the top and Bottom
layer and R PET in the middle. Our Key Thermoforming Partner
Waddington Europe tend to use 15% - 70% - 15% in their R PET.
Where a bubble pad or Absorbent paper pad is used this
must be removed before placing this material into your local
authority waste stream. In both the case of A PET and R PET, the
base material is still PET, the first letter indicates 'the form'
of the material but both are easily recycled in the UK.
The following Symbols are used to identify plastic materials and
shows the most commonly accepted Plastics in UK local authority
recycling schemes;
- Our Flow wrap films - Are all converted in
Europe in BOPP, however the base materials can be produced as a far
afield as The Middle East. Unfortunately, due to the amount of
energy needed to collect and process this lightweight film, the
majority of UK local authorities will not accept this material,
despite it being recyclable
- Our Lidding films - Are all converted in
Europe in PET, however the base materials can be produced as a far
afield as The Middle East. Unfortunately, due to the amount of
energy needed to collect and process this lightweight film, the
majority of UK local authorities will not accept this material,
despite it being recyclable
- Our Bags - Are all produced in Europe in LDPE,
however the base materials can be produced as a far afield as The
Middle East. Unfortunately, due to the amount of energy needed to
collect and process this lightweight film, the majority of UK local
authorities will not accept this material, despite it being
recyclable
Recycle, Reduce or
Re use (or Compost)? We believe
that wherever possible a combination of reducing the amount of
packaging we use without compromising its key function to
Protect is the key. We also need to ensure that
there is an end of use for packaging used, ensuring that consumers
are educated as to what their options are for packaging at the end
point of use and ensuring that there are options to recycle or
compost.