June 2020

The initiative is an exclusive partnership in Ireland with DS Smith, the leading sustainable packaging and recycling company. The AIL Group, the retail group behind Abrakebabra, the Bagel Factory and the O’Briens sandwich chain, has signed on as the first customer of the scheme. The coffee cup collection boxes will be rolled out to 80 O’Briens and Bagel Factory outlets nationwide from January 2020.

The River Keekle restoration project - the largest of its kind in the UK - involves the removal of an environmentally damaging plastic liner from a 2.5km stretch of the Cumbrian river. Nine tonnes of plastic have been removed from a 170-metre trial site in the recently completed first phase of the project and the riverbed restored with stone.

The plastic, which is causing erosion and pollution, was destined for landfill until Plaswood heard about the scheme and stepped in to help.

If we at ALPLA were to look back on 2019 and choose a phrase to sum up the year, we can say with relative certainty that it would be ‘circular economy’.

Consumers want richer information about the food and beverages they are consuming. Not only do they want to know the ingredients, they want access to a plethora of other information including the supply chain it passed through; the impact on the planet and their health; the treatment of workers; and product safety. Today, the packaging for those products offers more than just protection and branding. Digitisation and smart packaging mean companies can educate and connect directly with their consumers.