Warm reception for frozen food | Category Focus – chilled and frozen food
Chilled and frozen food packaging has many roles to play in the current health and environmental climate. Tony Corbin examines the progress in being made in these categories
With the nation having recently experienced a series of pandemic-related lockdowns, a focus on chilled and frozen food packaging is timely. While food shopping is essential, many have been limiting their visits to the shops. Filling the fridge and, particularly, the freezer has been a sensible move. Packaging and labelling is key to consumer choices whether its innovations such as re-closable packs or instructions on freezing and defrosting.
By Ian Quinn2021-05-07T08:50:00+01:00
The discounter decided its priority was to concentrate on the rollout of DRS in Scotland
Lidl has quit an industry group set up to explore the use of a digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) amid fears it could detract from the UK rollout of a conventional store-based model.
The retailer, alongside Aldi, Co-op, Ocado, suppliers Diageo and Danone and the BRC, had been part of the Digital DRS Industry Working Group, which The Grocer reported last week plans to launch a major trial of DDRS. The trial could reduce the need for conventional reverse vending machines, estimated to cost £1bn a year.
By Ian Quinn2021-04-28T15:49:00+01:00
A raft of major retailers and suppliers are planning to launch the biggest trial yet of a so-called digital deposit return scheme system (DDRS), with the group telling the government it could save hundreds of millions in infrastructure costs.
Aldi, Co-op, Lidl and Ocado, alongside suppliers such as Diageo and Danone, are backing the trial, which will look to prove codes on packaging on cans and bottles can be used with smartphone apps as an “on the go” and kerbside alternative to the planned network of reverse vending machines (RVMs) in stores.
So far only small-scale trials of DDRS have been conducted, in Wales and Northern Ireland, but the Digital DRS Industry Working Group (IWG), also including the BRC, British Glass and the British Plastics Federation, is planning to run a trial across a major town or city, with Wales favourite to be the location.
By Steve Farrell2021-04-16T11:48:00+01:00
Both paper and plastic industries are frustrated at a lack of transparency from the supermarket
It is almost taken for granted that eliminating plastic is good for the environment, but when it comes to carrier bags, the truth is less clear.
Some historic reports, including a decade-old one from the Northern Ireland Assembly, have suggested (whisper it) that paper has a higher overall carbon footprint because it is heavier in transit and uses more energy in production. But studies also tend to be dated, focusing on single-use plastic bags. Since supermarkets scrapped those in 2018, the more urgent question now is whether paper can be an improvement on plastic bags-for-life.
March 8, 2021
In recognition of International Women’s Day, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) and the Worshipful Company of Horners have commended the three female finalists (out of four contenders) in the Polymer Apprentice of the Year competition, including the overall winner, Emily Harris. This comes despite women accounting for just 24 per cent of the UK’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce.
Although the percentage of women working in STEM-based careers has slightly increased over the past few years, their disproportionate representation highlights the importance of continuing work intended to increase the number of women choosing to embark on careers within these industries. The fact that the Polymer Apprentice of the Year finalists were predominantly female reflects a positive change.