Category: Sustainability

Following a successful trial in the North East of England recycling polypropylene (PP) film in selected stores, UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has rolled out a new recycling system to a total of 520 supermarkets allowing customers to recycle all flexible plastic packaging which is not commonly accepted for kerbside collection by local authorities. The front of store…

Kite Packaging has launched a biodegradable and recyclable bottle sleeve that it says can boast “extreme strength and cost-efficiency.” 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…

Refillable packaging for the new Degree Inclusive deodorant is easy to open and apply for people with visual impairment and upper limb motor disabilities. As society becomes more aware of inequalities in life, brands are acting to show they have heard, and to show they care. One such example is the new Degree Inclusive deodorant from Unilever,…

In an Australian-first, Colgate-Palmolive has launched a recyclable tube for its Colgate toothpaste and is making its packaging technology available to all competitors. With 50 million toothpaste tubes per annum sent to landfill in Australia, this is a welcome development from Colgate-Palmolive. The new packaging technology, developed by global team of Colgate engineers, was five years…

Stora Enso and packaging technology company Pulpex have joined forces to industrialize the production of paper bottles and containers made from wood fibre pulp. The joint development agreement is formed exclusively between Stora Enso and Pulpex, a sustainable packaging technology company established by Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness, and Pilot Lite, a venture management…

Woolworths has announced that an additional 50 stores plus two new stores will be single-use plastic shopping bag free by the end of April and has replaced plastic packaging with kraft packaging for popular ‘Ripe and Ready’ avocados. These milestones help steer the retailer towards its vision of ZERO packaging waste to landfill, which includes…

Biocomposite films made from biopolymers and antioxidants extracted from wheat straw and mango peels can replace petroleum-based packaging materials, such as low-density polyethylene plastic film, for food packaging, says Stellenbosch University Department of Process Engineering postdoctoral fellow and chemical engineer Dr Lindleen Mugwagwa. Wheat straw and mango peels are normally disposed of in landfills or used as animal…

Developed centuries ago, paper has a fascinating history as it has been through the mill – literally and figuratively – in terms of what it is made from, says paper and pulp industry association the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA). It also has many interesting side stories such as the not well known…

Dental product manufacturer Colgate on April 22 launched its recyclable toothpaste tube in South Africa to coincide with Earth Day. Made from number two high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the new tubes will contain one of three Colgate Naturals toothpaste, including its charcoal, hemp seed oil and aloe vera variants of toothpaste. Colgate claims that, historically, toothpaste tubes have been made of materials…

As more companies move towards biopolymers as an alternative to fossil-fuel-based plastic, some are considering hemp as a potential biomass source, but can this ‘wonder crop’ make an impact in the world of bioplastic? Heidi Vella investigates. The humble hemp plant has long been known for its versatility: alongside bamboo, it is one of the…