The company has provided a range of lightweight and fully recyclable pouches for Tesco’s grated cheese along with manufacturer Ornua Foods
Coveris has provided recyclable pouch for Tesco’s grated cheese. (Credit: Coveris)
Sustainable packaging manufacturer Coveris has introduced full recyclable cheese packs for Tesco, as part of its sustainable efforts.
The company has provided a range of lightweight and fully recyclable pouches for Tesco’s grated cheese along with manufacturer Ornua Foods.
Designed as a direct replacement for current non-recyclable alternatives, the new MonoFlexBE format is said to meet current shelf-life requirements and maintain packing line efficiencies.
The new high-clarity format consists of a resealable zip for enhanced convenience and can be fully printed up to nine colours HD flexo with a matt lacquer for a tactile finish and enhanced rigidity.
Tesco has replaced a hard-to-recycle mixed and triple-ply nylon laminate with a fully recyclable polyethylene (PE) monolaminate structure with built-in barrier properties for cheese.
According to the packaging company, the film delivers a significant plastic weight reduction of 680mg of plastic per bag to further reduce emissions.
Tesco senior packaging manager Denise Mathieson said: “We’re really excited to have worked with Coveris on this new material, it is yet another step closer to realising our ambition of single polymer packaging which is much easier to recycle.”
At present, selected packs of Tesco grated cheese are available in stores across the UK. By the end of this year, a full category launch is expected across the retailer’s own-brand grated cheese lines.
The use of new monolaminate material is expected to move about 411 tonnes of plastic per annum recycling stream.
Coveris’ UK flexibles technical sales manager Mark Robinson said: “To have delivered a first-to-market, fully recyclable monolaminate for cheese is a real win for us and a game-changer for the whole industry.
“Once again, we’ve proven our capabilities in developing new sustainable performance films and if we can do this for as technically complex a product as this, then we look forward to the next challenge.”