Dunbia Group, in partnership with The Co-op, has helped members of the UK Plastics Pact reduce their total amount of hard-to-recycle packaging by 70% since 2018.
The Co-op and Dunbia have worked together with suppliers to roll out mono-material PET trays across red meat packs. Previously the packs contained a layer of different plastic (PE) which impeded the trays from being recycled effectively. The innovation enables Dunbia Group, suppliers to many UK supermarkets, to transition all trays to the mono-material.
The UK Plastics Pact’s third annual report shows ‘good collective progress’ against the UK Plastics Pact’s four environmental targets year on year, while further action is required to scale the recycling of plastic bags and wrapping.
According to WRAP’s annual report, major UK supermarkets and food manufacturers have helped reduce the amount of packaging on supermarket shelves by a tenth between 2018 and 2020. UK Plastic Pact members have also reduced single-use plastic items by 46% and have doubled their recycled content in two years, saving 140,000 tonnes of CO2e.
WRAP claims that members of the Pact account for two-thirds of all consumer packaging in the UK. The initiative involves 96 members, which include 56 manufacturers and 15 retailers. The Pact is also backed by Daera, Defra, the Scottish government and the Welsh government.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
