Walkers Invests £14m in Sustainable Packaging
To reduce its carbon footprint, UK snack giant Walkers invested £14 million in new packaging solutions with the goal of removing 250 tonnes of virgin plastic from its supply chain annually.
The current plastic packaging for 22- and 24-bag multipacks will be replaced with a new cardboard design. By switching from fossil-fuel-based virgin plastic to a more environmentally friendly option, Walkers could reduce their company carbon emissions by 465 tonnes annually.
After a successful trial with Tesco, the new sustainably packaged crisps will be available in all major UK supermarkets.
Simon Devaney, Sustainable Packaging Director, PepsiCo UK & Ireland said “We are constantly exploring new scalable solutions and this investment marks an important step forward, delivering a huge reduction in virgin plastic across some of our best-selling ranges, while also helping to tackle our carbon footprint”.
In addition, Walkers has invested in a new stretch film to wrap around pallets before they are distributed to retailers. This will provide an extra layer of protection and stability for the products during transport. The new film was produced using nanotechnology which emits tiny air bubbles into the film to reduce the amount of plastic used, while simultaneously retaining the strength and stretch needed to protect items during transit.
According to the snack giant, this film should lead to a 40 percent reduction in virgin plastic annually compared to the previous film. This sustainable packaging introduction is based on PepsiCo‘s (which owns Walkers) ongoing goal of eliminating virgin fossil-plastic from its crisp and snack bags across Europe by 2030.
News Credits: Walkers invests £14 million in sustainable packaging
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