UK – British supermarket chain Tesco and packaging manufacturer Faerch Group have partnered to start a tray-to-tray initiative to recycle used plastic food trays back into the packaging and create a circular economy for its core chilled ready meals range.
According to the retailer, its ready meal trays already contain up to 75% recycled content – largely sourced from bottle flake, as it is cleaner and easier to recycle.
The Tray 2 Tray program, developed collaboratively in 2021, is now enabling Tesco to implement 30% recycled tray content – collected from European kerbside waste – into the food-grade packaging in a bid to achieve full circularity.
Adele Kearns, packaging development manager at Tesco said: “We are determined to close the loop on our packaging – for it to be fully recyclable and contain recycled content wherever possible.
“We remain committed to reducing our environmental impact, and helping our customers to do the same, as we work together to protect our planet.”
With a phased rollout set to begin this month, the collaboration hopes to keep high-quality, food-grade PET within the supply chain, prevent downcycling, and contribute towards the industrial-scale recovery and recycling of PET tray packaging.
Commenting on the collaboration, Ruth Price, strategic sales manager at Faerch UK added: “We’re delighted to launch our Tray 2 Tray by Faerch program with Tesco, an essential initiative that promotes circular food packaging in the economy, and we are committed to working with our customers to keep rigid food packaging in the economy and out of the environment.
“Our collaboration with Tesco is the perfect example of how material from EU waste resources can be diverted into a valuable commodity.
“Moving forward, we intend to not only increase the level of tray-to-tray content but to also start taking this from local UK feedstocks.”
Earlier this year, Tesco announced a partnership with Keep Sea Blue to incorporate recycled plastics into its fresh fish packaging.
The retailer claims that the move will prevent as much as 500 tonnes of discarded plastic from entering the oceans.
The supermarket’s salmon, haddock, cod, and sea bass lines are set to be sold in trays containing at least 30% recycled coastal plastic collected from beaches, coastlines, and coastal communities within 10km of the Mediterranean Sea.
This is hoped to facilitate the reduction of virgin plastics in both the packaging itself and at-risk environments near the ocean.
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