With their foil-lined cardboard tubes, metal bases and tear-away lids, and plastic caps, the crisp brand’s distinctive packaging has been described as a “nightmare” to recycle due to the combination of materials present. Now Pringles is attempting to shed its old look, with parent company Kellogg’s trialling a tube made of widely recyclable paper, allowing fans of the snack to dispose of the packaging with their regular household recycling. The new tubes are currently being sold at three Tesco stores in East Anglia as part of a six-week trial. If it proves successful, the tubes – which are being tested with plastic and cardboard lids – will be introduced to shops more widely across Europe. Kellogg’s pledged in 2018 to make all its packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by end of 2025.This promise came in the wake of a 2017 report by the Recycling Association that branded Pringles the “number one recycling villain”. The trade body said Pringles tubes, and similarly packaged items, were a “nightmare” to recycle as it was “impossible to separate the parts”. Commenting on the new packaging, Miranda Prins, vice-president at Pringles, said the brand was “eager to play our part and reduce our impact on the planet”. Pringles can of the future Ms Prins said it was “too early” tell whether the version of the tube being trialled would be rolled out nationwide, but that testing it out would “help us understand if people like it and if it works on the supermarket shelf and at home”. She added: “This trial will help us create the Pringles can of the future.”
