Frozen food industry collaborates to reduce packaging

Frozen food businesses are working together to identify ‘hero’ products, which will be used to introduce packaging innovations.

This follows a workshop: ‘Optimising Packaging in The Frozen Food Sector’, organised by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) at BFFF headquarters in Grantham. Working groups comprising suppliers, packers, retailers and brand owners are being set up to explore packaging best practice. Pizza and ready meals will be the first products looked at.

Delegates heard from Asda, which has set a 25% reduction target by 2008, and Tryton Foods about how they had approached the challenge of packaging optimisation. Delegates learned of achievements such as the £750,000 cut in packaging costs, 400t reduction in packaging and 500,000 fewer road miles travelled to carry the same product, which Tryton recorded following simple changes to packaging and vehicle loading.

Frozen food supplier Youngs aims to reduce its packaging by a quarter by 2010. Vanessa Borrill, Youngs packaging development manager, explained: “We are developing 10 Principles for Responsible Packaging Procurement with clear policies on all aspects of packaging. One of the projects we have just completed is the redesign of the structural packaging format for Youngs Lightly Smoked Salmon Fillets (250g) that uses a 100% recyclable carton. It has delivered immediate benefits including a packaging weight reduction of 13% and a 26% reduction in size that has allowed an increase in pallet fill and freezer efficiency in-store. It is a project that has benefited Youngs, retailers, consumers and the environment.”

BFFF director general Brian Young said: “The event demonstrated the frozen food industry’s commitment to packaging optimisation as one element in its efforts to reduce carbon. Packaging is only the start. The industry has a major role to play in helping reduce food waste because freezing preserves and protects food for a long time, ensuring that more of it gets eaten and not thrown away.”

WRAP’s research shows that UK consumers throw away 6.7Mt of food every year - much of which could have been eaten. Most ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. In addition, the energy used to produce, package, transport and deliver food that could have been eaten is equivalent to at least 15Mt of carbon dioxide every year.

Charlotte Henderson, WRAP retail initiative manager, said: “Like all other parts of the food industry, frozen producers are getting to grips with meeting changing retailer and customer packaging requirements. Change isn’t necessarily about altering your packaging material, it’s just as important to ask how your current packaging can be improved or redesigned to make savings. It is also about looking at primary and secondary packaging together as an optimised system.”

“Frozen food producers have the potential to make significant reductions and at the same time deliver improved packs to consumers, for instance traditional pizza boxes can now be replaced with flow-wrap.”

WRAP has been working with over 24 major retailers and brand owners such as Youngs Seafood and Tryton Foods to reduce packaging waste by 160,000t by 2008.