Weetabix has announced 99 per cent of its packaging will be widely recyclable by summer 2022.
This puts the company on track to make 100 per cent of its packaging recyclable ahead of the 2025 deadline set by WRAP for the UK Plastics Pact.
Weetabix has made key changes across its product range, which includes transitioning the Protein line of its Weetabix on the go breakfast drinks to PET bottles, with 51 per cent recycled content.
The company underwent extensive trials to ensure the clear PET bottle kept the nutritional properties of the drink from deteriorating in the sunlight.
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In addition, Weetabix will unroll paper wraps across all its biscuits, including Weetabix Original, Flavours and Protein.
These improved paper wraps deliver a 20 per cent reduction in emissions compared to the existing packaging.
The news comes as Weetabix publishes its 2021 Sustainability Report, which highlights the company’s commitment to sourcing all wheat for Weetabix Original within a 50-mile radius of its mills in Northamptonshire.
In a further move towards reducing its carbon footprint, Weetabix has also partnered with UK-based green energy supplier Smartest Energy to supply factories with renewable energy generated by wind, solar and water power.
“Ultimately, all our packaging decisions are based on whether they reduce our overall carbon footprint,” Weetabix head of supply chain and technical John Petre said.
Since food waste is a big contributor to carbon emissions and environmental damage, our concern is always to balance packaging innovation against that risk.”
“Facing down this milestone of reaching 99% recyclable packaging is a huge testament to the hard work of the team. At this stage all the low-hanging fruit is long gone and the decisions that remain take a lot of hard work and dedication to get the innovations right.
We had to do a lot of research and testing with our On The Go Drinks bottle in order to launch the fully recyclable bottle last year and we’re delighted to be rolling that out for our Protein range as well later this year.”
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