US-based food products manufacturer Mars Wrigley has partnered with standardised labelling system provider How2Recycle to develop a more sustainable packaging option for its Orbit Gum.

The 30-piece Orbit Mega Pack features an outer plastic package that can be recycled in around 50% of recycling streams in the US, with more locations to be made available in future.

Intended for on-the-go durability, the product is available on shelves for purchase at retailers across the nation and offered in Peppermint and Spearmint flavours.

Mars Wrigley US Gum and Mints senior director Ivonne Andreu said: “We are delighted to partner with How2Recycle for Orbit Mega Pack as society begins to seek fresh breath on the go once again and celebrate more in-person moments this year.

“We’re committed to our Mars Wrigley’s purpose of Better Moments, More Smiles and to making a positive societal impact through more sustainability and increased recycling transparency on our Orbit Mega Pack.”

The Orbit Mega Pack comes with How2Recycle’s on-pack step-by-step guide on how to recycle each part of the pack.

The packaging is in line with Mars Wrigley’s sustainability effort to transform its packaging portfolio and make it fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

It follows Mars Wrigley’s business partnership with biopolymer manufacturer Danimer Scientific, in which the two companies will develop innovative home compostable packaging.

Mars Wrigley and Danimer Scientific will initially focus on smaller and single packs, which are likely to be the most littered and less recycled.

The beauty and personal care industry is worth over USD 500-billion a year and the market is expected to grow annually by 4.75%. Accordingly, the forerunners have eagerly been looking for sustainable packaging solutions. While around 90% of the cosmetics market consist of water-based emulsions, there has not been an alternative for water-based products that biodegrades without leaving permanent microplastics behind. Now, Sulapac has invented a patent-pending material for them.

As well as being fully sustainable, the Sulapac barrier fits industry standard requirements.

“I’m excited that we managed to create a sustainable barrier that is suitable for water-based products! The development and extensive testing took longer than we anticipated, but now it’s finally official. We are pleased to offer a real game-changer to our customers together with the industry leaders like our preferred partner for cosmetics, Quadpack,” said Dr Suvi Haimi, CEO and co-founder of Sulapac.

At present, Sulapac is also announcing a new flexible material designed for thin-walled jars with excellent impact strength. It has low carbon footprint based on eco-design, climate conscious raw materials and cost-efficient, high-volume manufacturing. Combined with the Sulapac barrier, the company’s trusted partners provide a compelling portfolio of different sized jars for both oil and water-based cosmetics. They also give support throughout the process, a turnkey solution.

“The new barrier developed by Sulapac allows us to continue to offer sustainable innovations that meet and exceed market demands. From new capacities to cutting-edge technical solutions, Quadpack is happy to provide an ever-growing product range in Sulapac material to all beauty brands,” said Pierre Antoine Henry, head of categories at Quadpack, Sulapac’s preferred partner for cosmetics.

Sulapac has made sure that the switch from conventional plastics is as easy as possible. The drop-in solution material can be mass produced with the existing plastic machinery. What’s more, its natural appearance and haptic feel make it stand out. Sulapac is beautiful, functional and sustainable, just like nature.

Currently, the ideal way to recycle a product made of Sulapac material is via industrial composting. It biodegrades without leaving permanent microplastics behind. Mechanical and chemical recycling are also viable options, and Sulapac is developing a closed-loop system.

Now, Sulapac is looking for forerunner cosmetic brands to join its mission to save the world from plastic waste.

The employee-owned business utilised its team of in-house experts to produce the solution, which is being sold as “Flexi-Hex”. The sleeves are produced from 85% recycled paper and can, according to the company, be easily recycled after use.

The pinch top box ensures a completely plastic-free design by eliminating the need for tape while reportedly providing a safe and secure fastening. Used in conjunction, Kite says that these products provide excellent protection while minimising environmental impact.

The product’s honeycomb-inspired structure features expandable hexagonal cells. In addition, Kite says that its Flexi-Hex products significantly enhance the unboxing experience, which is crucial for securing repeat customers and establishing a reputable brand image.

Hexagons are renowned for their structural strength. It is the company’s view that this makes the sleeve suitable for packaging delicate items including glass bottles, ceramics, or homeware.

In a statement, Kite Packaging commented: “The cellular construction intertwines optimal strength with incredible flexibility, enabling you to compress the sleeves for space-saving storage before opening them up to protect your goods.

“This versatility is tailormade for guarding against any knocks and drops that can occur in transit, granting your goods an exceptional level of protection.”

Grove Collaborative, a San Francisco-based sustainable consumer products company that creates natural products and offers a curated selection of healthy home essentials and personal care products direct to consumer, has expanded its personal care line, Peach, with the launch of what it says is the first-ever 100% plastic-free deodorant and body care refill system.

According to Mintel, the U.S. deodorant industry is projected to grow to $4.2 billion by 2024. Notes Grove Collaborative, while niche brands and big industry players have introduced deodorant refills, the options in the market currently all have plastic components. This is just one element of the larger plastic crisis within the $500 billion dollar personal care industry, which has been built almost entirely on the premise of cheap, disposable, and single-use plastic, the company says.

“Plastic is everywhere. In order to solve that problem, we have to create better products for consumers one category at a time,” says Stuart Landesberg, co-founder and CEO of Grove Collaborative. “The Peach deodorant and lotion line builds on Grove’s leadership in sustainable packaging and is the industry’s first-ever 100% plastic-free deodorant and body care refill system. The performance is exceptional—on par with leading national brands—with 48-hour odor protection, and the products are vegan and use 100% natural fragrances. The launch is a result of our continued focus on sustainable product innovation, as we develop new formats that are planet-friendly and built based on input from our community.”

According to Grove Collaborative, its Peach brand is on a mission to eliminate plastic from the personal care routine. Since its launch in 2020, Peach’s bar format shampoos and conditioners, hand and body wash, and facial cleansers have helped consumers avoid over 54,000 lb of plastic from entering landfills. Now, with the launch of the 100% plastic-free deodorant and body care refill system, Grove Collaborative says Peach is continuing its mission by expanding its domain beyond the shower and into the bathroom cabinet.

The Peach Deodorant and Body Care refill system comes in plastic-free, refillable deodorant, body lotion, and body balm stick formats that utilize clean and vegan formulas with 100% natural fragrances. The starter pack for each comes with a deodorant or body lotion/balm stick in an aluminum capsule and an aluminum case that users can refill infinitely. 

The new packaging format is designed to give retailers more merchandising flexibility, reduce excess packaging materials, and to improve consumer shopping experiences.

The halal food market in the US is poised to grow by $8.17 billion during 2020-23, progressing at a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 per cent during the forecast period.

Crescent Foods products are distributed, nationwide, through large retailers, foodservice providers, as well as regional, specialty retailers.

Plastic food packaging adds to this issue; however, it also plays an important role in food quality, safety and reducing food waste. However, this isn’t an either/or proposition – we must ensure that our packaging contributes to the circular economy. Already, Kellogg has one of the smallest plastic packaging footprints among peer food companies2 and 76% of our packaging is recyclable globally. Most of our other packaging uses either recycled-content paperboard cartons or corrugate cardboard. We also use composite cans, and for our bars and convenience foods, we use flexible plastic packaging. We are aggressively driving cutting-edge innovation, looking at how packaging can protect and enhance our foods and have an even smaller environmental impact.

“We’re incredibly motivated to be part of the solution,” said Nigel Hughes, DPhil., senior vice president, research quality, nutrition and technology. “We’re wasting no time in working toward our goal of using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by the end of 2025. This goal aligns to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (EMF) New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which we were among just a handful of food companies to sign on to in 2018.”

Achieving our sustainable packaging goal is part of our global Kellogg’s Better Days® commitment to create Better Days for 3 billion people around the world by 2030 by addressing the interrelated issues of wellbeing, food security and climate resiliency. It also supports United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #12 – Sustainable Production and Consumption – including #12.5, to “substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.”

When our founder Mr. Kellogg introduced the first box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes® cereal in 1906, it came in boxes made from recycled content. Today, 100% of our timber-based packaging that goes into cereal and other boxes comes from low risk, certified-sustainable or recycled sources. And we’re speeding up our efforts to achieve our packaging goal. Around the world, we’re committed to following the principles of the circular economy, excluding, reducing and replacing plastic, as well as building external partnerships to ensure more plastic can be recycled after use. Below are a few examples on how we are progressing against our commitment. More information about our efforts are provided in our Sustainable Packaging Annual Milestones.

Exclude

In 2018, we implemented a “greening” of our facilities, transitioning to compostable and paper foodservice products in all our plants and offices globally … no more plastic and no more single-use foam. In our U.S. operations in Illinois and Michigan alone, we diverted 2 million pieces of silverware, 105,000 straws and 110,000 bottles from landfill every year. We also eliminated single-use plastic spoons that were part of certain packages.

Reduce

In the U.S., we’re reducing the thickness in some of our bag-in-box retail cereal packages by 17% to reduce our plastic packaging by 97,000 kilograms, or the equivalent of nearly 35, 30-gallon barrels of uncrushed plastic bottles each year3. This project will enable us to eliminate the equivalent amount of packaging it takes to produce 9 million bag-in-box liners, annually. We also recently decreased the size of cereal boxes, while maintaining the same amount of food in each box. As a result, we reduced the size of the corrugated shipping cartons that hold these packages, eliminating up to 1 million pounds of packaging material.

We also currently have some instances where we bulk ship cereal in reusable bins from the production facility to the final destination, where it is packed into pouches or bag-in-box packages. This happens with our granolas and cereals in multiple regions. In Africa, India, China and Australia, we’ve significantly reduced packaging using this approach.

Redesign

Today, 76% of our packaging is recyclable. In 2020, Kellogg launched Bear Naked®’s first fully recyclable pouch for granolas in the U.S., making it available for store drop-off at more than 18,000 stores nationwide. In Europe, Kellogg launched a project to move cereal pouches to a recycle-ready material by late 2019, which should remove 480 tonnes of non-recyclable packaging from the supply chain each year. In Mexico, we are piloting a project to replace PET packaging with material that can more easily be crushed into pellets and recycled.

We’ve had similar success in the U.S. redesigning packaging in our MorningStar Farms® veggie foods by moving to resealable bags. We reduced packaging weight by 38%. As an added benefit, the bags help fight freezer burn, which reduces food waste.

Across Europe, we are driving innovation by testing and learning different redesign approaches. In the U.K. and France, we’re testing refillable cereal stations that eliminate packaging with each repurchase. In Italy, we’re testing new Pringles® cans to determine how to best increase the recyclability of this global snack.

As we continue to exclude, reduce and redesign, we’re also encouraging more recycling and partnering on new technologies. For example:

• We’re one of 40-leading companies in The Recycling Partnership that invests in community programs and more broad solutions to increase recycling across the U.S. As a member of its Film and Flexibles Taskforce, we’re working across industries to define, pilot and scale recycling solutions for plastic film, bags and pouches.
• In the U.K., Pringles® launched a partnership with TerraCycle to collect and recycle its cans. And in Malaysia, our local waste collector converts rejected Pringles® cans into corrugated paper.
• In Australia, we include the Redcycle logo on our cereal bags. At the Redcycle website, people can easily find the location of their nearest drop-off location. In 2018, 7.7 tonnes of our packaging made it into Redcycle collection bins. A similar effort is underway in the U.S., where we include the How2Recycle label on most of our packages today and are working toward having it on all packages.
• Kellogg India is piloting an innovative project with waste management company Nepra Environmental Solutions in Pune, Maharashtra. Together, we’re developing a system to collect and dispose of multilayer plastic (MLP) waste. Nepra purchases MLP from the local waste-sorting workers and turns it into fuel for cement kilns.

More than 110 years after the very first box of Kellogg’s® cereal included recycled content, using sustainable packaging remains part of our DNA.

“While we don’t have all the solutions, we’re hard at work testing and learning out loud,” Nigel said. “This means researching, collaborating with partners, and piloting new approaches to keeping our foods safe and fresh while also protecting the planet.”