NETHERLANDS – Upfield, the Dutch food company steering Flora, Becel, and ProActiv brands in collaboration with Footprint, MCC, Pagès Group, and Emsur has launched plastic-free, oil-resistant paper tubs for plant butters.
Upfield, owned by KKR after a €6.8 billion acquisition from Unilever in 2018, has crafted these tubs from paper fibers, eschewing plastic coatings or linings to accommodate butter alternatives and spreads.
Intended to replace 25,000 tonnes of yearly plastic waste, these tubs employ compressed wet paper fibers from a PEFC-certified source.
Waterproof and oil-resistant, they lack plastic liners, enabling recyclability in local paper waste streams, verified by a top European recycling company.
The tubs earned Conventional Plastic Free certification and aim for home compostability certification by 2025.
Commencing in Austria with Flora Plant in late 2023, this initiative will extend to other Upfield brands like Rama and BlueBand. The goal is to replace two billion plastic tubs by 2030, targeting an 80% reduction in plastic across their portfolio.
David Haines, Upfield’s Group CEO, stressed their commitment to positive global impact, addressing the alarming volume of single-use plastic in packaging.
He highlighted their drive to innovate beyond plastic tubs and commended Upfield’s teams for this achievement.
Karina Cerdeira, Upfield’s Packaging Head, praised the durable, leak-proof, and appealing nature of the paper-based tubs, achieved through dedicated collaboration with Footprint.
Yoke Chung, Footprint’s co-founder and chief Technology & Innovation officer, echoed the commitment to sustainability, marking their joint effort with Upfield as a pioneering industry standard.
The initiative follows Flora’s recent brand identity unification, emphasizing its dedication to plant-based alternatives.
Additionally, Sirane expanded its ‘Earth Packaging’ with recyclable, plastic-free butter wraps made from paper, offering various barrier choices.
The growing inclination toward environmentally-friendly products and regulatory pressures has led consumer goods firms to explore paper packaging as an alternative to plastic.
In 2022, the European Parliament proposed comprehensive legislation, part of the Green Deal, to standardize packaging waste rules across the bloc, emphasizing reduction targets for both plastic and paper while prioritizing packaging reusability.
The European Environment Bureau stressed that disposable paper-based food packaging might exacerbate deforestation, advocating for broader EU regulations encompassing all single-use packaging regardless of material.
For all the latest packaging and printing industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
