Category: News & Updates

As environmental awareness increases, both globally and locally, the amount of waste generated in South Africa is attracting more concern. Significant volumes of waste are still being diverted to landfill sites, which reflects a continued and dangerous “take-make-dispose” relationship with consumer products. In response to both consumer and legislative pressures, some of South Africa’s largest…

PepsiCo is committed to changing the way packaging is made, used, and disposed across its food system. This pledge sees PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa become the first market within PepsiCo’s Africa, Middle East, and South Asia (Amesa) sector to reduce its reliance on virgin plastics and incorporate 20% recycled PET (rPET) in its products. Increasing the…

Aldi announces that its own-brand rice will be available in fully recyclable, monomaterial PE packaging developed by Coveris, with the rollout expected across January and February 2022. The new packaging is a result of a two year partnership between Coveris and Veetee, one of the UK’s largest rice suppliers, to launch the packaging for Aldi’s own-brand Worldwide…

As part of its No Plastic in Nature initiative, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has produced a position paper that emphasises reduction and reuse while also setting out its principles for evaluating whether it is possible to establish a credible and effective chemical recycling system. WWF begins its Chemical Recycling Implementation Principles with a statement saying it does not…

PepsiCo Europe has announced that by 2030, it plans to eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in all its crisp and chip bags. This ambition, which follows the introduction of PepsiCo Positive, the company’s strategic end-to-end transformation with sustainability at the centre, will apply to brands including Walkers, Doritos, and Lay’s and will be delivered by using 100%…

Global flexible packaging giant Amcor has launched a new platform of paper-based packaging products. The AmFiber range appears to be a direct responses to the shift in demand away from plastic packaging – Amcor said it’s ‘consumer-centric and adaptable approach to innovation’ uses the materials ‘most suited to their needs’. The first AmFiber product launch…

ABB Robotics announces its agreement with Zume to scale and automate the production of plant-based packaging that the companies claim is a fully compostable and cost-effective alternative to single-use plastics. Over the next five years, ABB says it will integrate and install over 1,000 moulded fibre manufacturing cells (MFC), including up to 2,000 robots, at Zume’s global customer…

Frugal Bottle and other paper bottles see brand buy-in and strong growth, yet some experts question the sustainable value of this popular format. There’s a lot of optimism in the high-interest paper bottle market that centers on continued traction with brand owners. Yet there remain lingering doubts from consultants and others about the sustainability value…