Westpak at the ‘Sustainable Packaging News’ Circular Economy Conference
Westpak were thrilled to recently take part in the ‘Sustainable Packaging News’ online circular economy conference. In case you missed the video, here’s the written article exploring ‘recycling infrastructure vs packaging innovations’.
Is veganism still shaping the UK’s grocery and foodservice markets?
Trying to pinpoint where veganism stands in the mindset of today’s consumer can be a tricky task. The movement undoubtedly gained huge traction over recent years but has this started to slow down?
Grocery sustainability metrics have the potential to redefine the role of food packaging
It’s nearly a decade ago that the familiar ‘traffic light’ labelling system started appearing on supermarket items signalling key health metrics around calories, sugar, salt and fat content. Fast-forward to now, and a similar emphasis is emerging in the grocery industry around the signalling of environmental sustainability data for food items.
Is the economy threatening packaging sustainability?
Consumers and businesses alike are in the middle of a storm of economic challenges with spiralling energy costs, increasing business production costs, weakened consumer spending and soaring inflation all taking their toll. This economic backdrop raises key questions for sustainable practices in the food & packaging industry and the broader consumer mindset. Will more environmentally […]
Is peat the next major grocery sustainability issue?
The UK’s grocery retail industry certainly isn’t short of topical sustainability issues and initiatives. We’re accustomed to regular industry updates on issues such as plastic reduction, recycling figures, carbon footprint reduction, net zero ambitions, and reducing food wastage, to name a few. However, one of the industry’s arguably lesser publicised sustainability developments, the horticultural use of peat, could be starting to build momentum.
Production-led innovation sparks opportunities for fresh produce packaging
The food packaging industry is a rapidly evolving landscape of continuous product innovation and sustainable technology. However, sometimes innovations at the point of food production itself can, in turn, spur innovation further up the supply-chain. Similarly, new technologies in fresh produce production and preservation can open new possibilities for existing packaging technology.
Is greenwashing worth fighting?
‘Greenwashing’, also sometimes known as ‘green sheen’, is becoming an increasingly common term in discussions around commercial and political sustainability. The term refers to the to an organisation’s exaggerated, misleading or even fraudulent sustainability claims around its products, services or processes in a bid to enhance their public perception without truly committing to more eco-friendly practices.
Heat Seal Card Punnets – a breakthrough in packaging sustainability
A series of new punnet and tray designs, launched by food packaging specialists Westpak Group Ltd, are offering retailers and suppliers across the grocery industry a set of commercially viable paper-based alternative to plastic punnets while maintaining strong compatibility with standardised heat-sealing tooling and machinery.
Groceries in minutes… Packaging prepares for ultra-fast delivery.
Supermarkets providing home delivery is certainly nothing new. In fact, home delivery services in the UK stretch all the way back to the mid-nineties! What is more contemporary, however, is the trend of supermarkets and retailers partnering with major distribution and delivery providers to offer ultra-fast home-delivery capabilities. Recently, we’ve seen Co-op announce its partnership […]
Is COP26 doomed to fail? Or has it already succeeded?
The upcoming COP26 summit in Glasgow has gathered a huge amount of media attention with this year’s event seen as vital for the fight against climate change. Countries will be announcing the measures they’ve taken (following the commitments of 2015’s Paris Agreement) as well as presenting clear and ambitious targets for reducing emissions over the […]
