Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Waitrose has set a target to make its own-label packaging across all food categories widely recyclable, reusable or home compostable by 2025.
In a move towards meeting this goal, the supermarket chain has announced that its triangular sandwich wrappers will soon be easier to recycle.
This will be achieved by making the sandwich packs’ recyclable cardboard packaging easier to separate from the see-through plastic film part of the sandwich packs, which isn’t recyclable.
The plastic film will soon be removable from the cardboard via a peelable tab.
Waitrose is confident that the change, which will be introduced next month, will lead to more sandwich packaging being recycled.
And, the retailer added, even if customers throw the whole pack away, processors will be able to separate the paper element from the film more easily.
Waitrose packaging manager Karen Graley said: “The change to our sandwich packaging may seem like a small one but it’s likely to make a big impact on the amount of packaging recycled.
“We continue to work on a solution to the pack’s plastic film in the hope that, in the future, none of the sandwich pack will go to landfill.
“Our ambition for 100% of our own-label packaging to be widely recyclable, reusable or home compostable by 2025 is set to make a tangible difference to the environment.”
The retailer has worked with packaging manufacturer RAP and sandwich producers Melton Foods and Greencore on the new sandwich wrappers.
Waitrose customers buy over 26 million sandwiches from its shops each year. It has 354 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 65 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations.
