Recycle Now launches theme for Recycle Week 2022
Taking place between 19th – 25th September, Recycle Week 2022 will inspire people to Get Real to improve recycling, tackling myths around recycling – such as ‘wishcycling’ and reducing resident confusion. Now in its nineteenth year, Recycle Week, is the nation’s biggest annual celebration of recycling.
Major brands to launch new platform to tackle food waste
A major new platform to help reduce food waste is currently being trialled by several of the UK’s leading brands. Founding partners Co-op and Microsoft, supported by others, have created Caboodle, a not-for-profit digital platform enabling supermarkets, cafés and restaurants to connect with community groups and volunteers to redistribute surplus food.
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 […]
Tesco opens supply chain to innovative, sustainability start-ups
Tesco and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have launched a new accelerator programme aimed at pairing pioneering start-ups with Tesco suppliers, fast-tracking sustainability innovation in the supply chain to cut the environmental impact of food and support UK food security. ‘Innovation Connections’ will address a key barrier preventing promising sustainability innovations from being adopted at […]
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.
Environmental charity Wrap delivers first ‘Food Waste Action Week’
Environmental charity WRAP has delivered the first ‘Food Waste Action Week’ through their well-known Love Food Hate Waste. UK households produce around 70 per cent of the UK’s 9.5 million tonnes of food waste every year.
Tesco to trial Apeel – plant-based protection for fruit to extend shelf life and reduce food waste
Tesco has announced it is trialling an innovative plant-based protection that keeps fruit fresh for up to twice as long. ‘Apeel’, is a plant-based protection used on fruit and veg to slow down spoilage rate and maintain freshness for longer – which also helps reduce food waste.
Morrisons Makes Salad Bars Greener by Introducing ‘Rentable Boxes’
As part of a new sustainability initiative, Morrisons has announced that it is introducing new ‘rentable’ boxes on its Salad Bar in key trial stores. It has also announced the removal of plastic cutlery from all its stores. The scheme known as ‘Refill a Box’ is the first of its kind to be trialled by a UK supermarket. The boxes will replace the supermarket’s current large salad boxes and are designed to be used 400 times.
LIDL gives green light to leaf marque on UK fresh produce
Lidl GB has announced that it will see its entire British fresh produce supplier base achieving ‘LEAF Marque’ certification by the end of 2023. LEAF Marque is a leading global environmental assurance system, run by global farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), recognising more sustainably-farmed products.
