The move will roll out in 2022 across six of its fruit pouch varieties. Its pouches are made from polypropylene and Heinz said that the format is fully recyclable. It has been assessed by the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) and the packs will be disposed in regular recycling collections.

Jojo de Noronha, President Northern Europe at Kraft Heinz, said: “We’re very proud to be the first name in baby food to announce the UK’s first kerbside recyclable pouch and help families be more sustainable, because we know this is very important to them. Until now it’s not been possible to take a sustainable approach when it comes to baby food in pouches, but all that is set to change, and we are delighted to now be able to offer parents of little ones the convenience coupled with sustainability they always wanted! This is another important step in the Heinz pledge to aim to make 100% of our packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.”

Denise Mathieson, packaging manager at Tesco, added: “We’re proud to have worked with Heinz to make it easy for our customers to recycle these pouches. Collaborations like this support our strategy to remove and reduce plastic and help customers to reuse more and recycle everything that’s left. Our customers expect to be able to recycle all packaging and we are working with brands and partners across the industry to make this happen.”

Jane Bevis, executive chair at OPRL, said: “People want to do the right thing but need help from businesses and government to make it easy for them. This innovative approach to re-designing baby food packaging and working with retailers to provide additional recycling points is exactly what’s needed to accelerate the journey to more sustainable packaging. We’re delighted these Heinz for Baby pouches will be easily recyclable, accepted in home recycling and will carry our ‘Recycle – Cap On’ labels.”

Environmental groups have strengthened calls for thorough regulatory review of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in food contact materials (FCMs) after discovering that the US FDA cleared several PFASs for plastic food packaging manufacture in the past decade.

The NGOs’ findings – reached through a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) request – follow the detection of PFAS contamination in fluorinated polyethylene containers, which prompted EPA and FDA investigations and the latter’s warning against unauthorised fluorination. 

In a 12 August blog, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Green Science Policy Institute (GSPI) detailed their discovery of seven food contact substance notifications (FCNs), granted between 2002 and 2016, for four PFAS processing aids for plastic packaging such as bottles and wraps. Permitted at concentrations up to 2000 parts per million (ppm), the compounds "reportedly improve polymer extrusion, reduce build-up on the injection mould and improve surface roughness, among other technical effects", the organisations said.

"While FDA has been focused on PFAS contamination from the environment and its use in paper packaging, it has been allowing PFAS-laden plastic to also contaminate the food supply without considering the cumulative effect of their dietary exposure on people’s health," they said.

EDF, GSPI and other non-profits petitioned the agency in June to ban new PFASs and revisit already permitted ones by factoring in accumulating impacts from the chemical class. 

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) said "the EDF blog relies on the misleading assumption that the mere presence of any per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance represents a health risk; however, nowhere in the text is evidence of this presented". 

Different PFASs possess "unique properties and uses, as well as environmental and health profiles", the trade association told Chemical Watch. "It is neither scientifically accurate, nor appropriate, to group them all together."

Foia results
Tom Neltner, the EDF’s chemicals policy director, said he filed the Foia request for the FCNs after packaging makers disclosed during an early 2020 workshop that they utilised PFASs to create plastic. 

The blog authors noted that in one case, the documents showed exposure from the compounds’ migration into food could be above some PFASs’ safe drinking water threshold.

"The FDA was allowing food to be contaminated at significant levels even though the agency was simultaneously realising there were problems," Mr Neltner said. "We were dismayed, but given the agency’s track record with FCNs, not particularly surprised." 

The non-profits added that the agency overlooked PFAS exposure from plastics that help store, process and transport food ingredients. And the agency failed to adhere to its regulation requiring class-based evaluation of substances with comparable toxicological outcomes, they said. 

Plastic processing aids and fluorinated polyethylene are the "latest additions to a growing list of sources of ‘forever chemicals’ in the diet", the NGOs said. The agency should assess all these compounds’ total impact across their entire range of applications, they said.

PFAS pollution is widespread, the organisations said, and "overall exposure adds up quickly" due to bioaccumulation, which increases possible hazardousness. 

‘Rigorous safety assessment’
The FDA told Chemical Watch the agency "conducts a rigorous scientific safety assessment of information submitted" before permitting any food contact substance.

The agency examines "the nature of the packaging components, the potential cumulative exposure to the food contact substance into the food and beverages (from all food contact substances that the FDA has reviewed) and safe levels of exposure", it said.

The "safety assumptions embedded in our exposure assessments mean that the actual dietary exposure from the approved food contact use is well below our cumulative dietary exposure estimate," the agency said. "Where new information raises safety questions, the FDA may revoke authorisations if the agency is no longer able to conclude that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from the authorised use."

3M, which initiated four of the FCNs under its name or that of subsidiary Dyneon, told Chemical Watch "certain fluoropolymers used as components in polymer processing additives (PPAs) are critical to the efficient production of lightweight and high-quality flexible plastic packaging". According to 3M, their great molecular weight and low mobility decrease environmental and health concerns.

The FDA’s authorisations demonstrate its "determinations that those chemicals are safe for their intended uses, and as indirect food contact substances, should be available for use in flexible plastic food packaging", the corporation said.

The other FCN submitters, Daikin and Arkema, did not immediately respond to requests for comment

“We are in a unique position to make sustainable packaging accessible and economically feasible due to economies of scale,” Delivery Hero Director of Sustainability, CSR and Safety Jeffrey Oatham told PYMNTS in an interview. “The Sustainable Packaging Program is an effective and scalable way to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions produced by the delivery industry.”

He highlighted the results of a 2020 Delivery Hero survey of over 2,200 participants across 7 countries, in which 86 percent of respondents reported that they would “consider ordering from restaurants via delivery platforms that offer sustainable packaging for food delivery.”

While this figure alone is somewhat tepid, and while data from the company selling the product is never the most reliable source, external research also finds clear demand from consumers for sustainable packaging.

A McKinsey study published in October of 2020 found that 60 to 70 percent of consumers report that they would pay more for sustainable packaging, and a PwC survey conducted in March 2021 found that 61 percent of those who work from home “intentionally buy items with eco-friendly packaging or less packaging,” as do 52 percent of those who work away from home.

Additionally, Trivium Packaging’s Global Buying Green report, which surveyed over 15,000 consumers across 3 continents, found that two-thirds of respondents believe recyclable packaging is important when making purchasing decisions, and 64 percent believe that packaging made from recycled materials is important. Plus, a recent Market Research Future report finds that the global sustainable packaging market is expected to grow 10.3 percent each year between 2021 and 2027, reaching $470.3 billion by 2027.

“Overall, there is a clear shift to move beyond single-use plastic solutions,” said Oatham. “This includes changes in global legislation, as well as more conscious and environmentally-minded consumers. In the future, we hope to see less single-use plastics, more compostable packaging solutions, and a continued rise in reuse model for food contact packaging as reverse logistics solutions are refined.”

TriMas Packaging expands caps portfolio with acquisition of Affaba & Ferrari

TriMas Packaging, which consists primarily of the Rieke®, Taplast™ and Rapak® brands, sees the EU directive coming in three years on fastened lids and closures as an industry-wide challenge. The group has proactively made significant investments in this field. At the end of 2020, TriMas announced the acquisition of Affaba & Ferrari, a manufacturer of precision closures for the food & beverage industry, as well as for industrial product applications.

“Affaba & Ferrari supplements our existing food & beverage and industrial product offerings, adding new blue-chip customers and a state-of-the-art manufacturing operation to our European base. Affaba & Ferrari offers proprietary product designs and production capabilities for aseptic applications. The company has earned important food packaging safety certifications, such as the British Retail Consortium/Institute of Packaging (BRC/IoP), the Global Standard and the Food and Drug Administration/Interstate Milk Shippers (FDA/IMS) Compliance, all of which will ultimately enable us to expand our current product offering for our global food & beverage customers,” said Fabio Salik, President of TriMas Packaging.

Affaba & Ferrari, located in Borgo San Giovanni, Italy, designs, develops and manufactures proprietary precision caps and closures for customers throughout Europe with plans to expand this innovative technology globally. The innovative product offering includes aseptic caps for juices, dairy products and sport isotonic/energy drinks, as well as tamper-evident, child-proof, flex-spout and further caps and closures used in food & beverage, agrochemical and industrial applications.

An important step forward
Affaba & Ferrari has decades of expertise and extensive experience in this field, regardless of EU requirements. “Our customers need to be aware of the possible measures they need to adopt and investments they need to make at an early stage, in order to implement against the regulatory backdrop,” says Howard Manning, VP Closure Product Division. All manufacturers of soft drinks, still-water products, aseptic drinks and beer in the EU must convert their systems by July 2024.

With this goal in mind, TriMas Packaging has accelerated advancements in the field of closures. The innovation leader announced that it will be introducing tethered caps to the market by the end of 2021. The products will feature a new screw and flip concept with a self-locking hinge that ensures food protection, while facilitating convenient consumption and reducing the impact of plastic caps on the environment.

DOM-TITAN is the leading Slovenian company in the field of mechanical security protection of doors and locks for furniture. They were looking for a suitable partner for the development of ecological packaging. The idea of ​​replacing styrofoam material was born on the initiative of Tomaž Kališnik, an employee of DOM-TITAN in the development and technology department. For implementation, they turned to the sustainable packaging strategists of DS Smith.

Based on the conceptual design of DOM-TITAN d.d. (author of the design Igor Plevel), and the experience of packaging strategists, we defined the key starting points of the new solution through a PackRight workshop.

Challenges of styrofoam packaging filler replacement

The main requirements from the client for the development of new ecological packaging were:

• Packaging that is sustainable and raise brand awareness
• Supply chain optimization.
• Aesthetic aspect - the impression of consumers when they open the packaging.
• Easy packing.
• Improve the protection that the fillings offer to the product.
• Adaptability of the fillings to different dimensions of locks.

DS Smith designers incorporated the Principles of Circular Design into the solution design process and followed the PackRight methodology of new product development.

“We always keep in mind the principles of circular packaging. The packaging is designed according to the respective phases of the product supply chain. In the process of development, we tested prototypes of the packaging several times together with the company DOM-TITAN d.d. and through improvements we came to the final solution, which brings many advantages, " adds Alenka Knez, head of DS Smith's PackRight development center in Brestanica.

• Achieved sustainable goal of DOM-TITAN d.d .: elimination of the use of styrofoam in the packing process.
  The new solution solves the problem of disposable styrofoam, which often ends up in landfills instead of recycling. They removed 1.7 tons of styrofoam per year, which has so far been used to pack locks.
• 100% recyclability of packaging fillings
  They can be easily recycled within the good practice of existing systems. They are made of paper with a certificate of responsible forest use, which contains approx. 80% recycled fibers.
• Due to more optimal loading of products on the pallet within the supply chain, we reduced the carbon footprint by 20%.
• Fast filler assembly.
• Contribute to the productivity of the production of locks, despite the fact that the inserts are now manually assembled
• Complete protection of heavier products. Due to the weight of the locks (approx. 4 kg), the construction of the fillings are very efficient. They ensure the products’ protection to damage.
• Use of fillings for several different products and lower packaging cost.

Interest in circular packaging is growing

Many companies are actively reducing their impact on the environment, looking for and developing circular packaging for their products.  “Companies are looking for packaging that is circular, that is easily recycled or reused and has zero impact on the environment. We are already talking about packaging with a zero carbon footprint, "comments Jožica Hojnik, Sales Director at DS Smith Slovenia. 

Igor Plevel, author of the design of the styrofoam replacement project for the company DOM-TITAN d.d. on the selection of a partner for the development of organic packaging states: “Very few packaging companies have such a good development department that could compete with DS Smith’s PackRight Center. We have chosen DS Smith as a partner in the project of circular packaging fillings, as they have been supplying us with quality materials for decades, they choose the right type of material for a specific product and are always ready to participate in creating and developing new packaging solutions”.

 "At DS Smith we have just put together a strong sustainable development strategy where we focus on five key sustainability goals. Within three years, we will only produce recyclable or reusable packaging and by 2030 we will ensure that all is recycled or reused. At the same time, we want to accelerate the circular economy, replace environmentally hazardous plastic packaging and continue with projects that reduce our customers' CO₂ emissions, ”adds Jožica Hojnik.