A small team is making a huge environmental difference within seafood giant Young’s, taking 144 tonnes of plastic out of the supply chain for the 海角视频 leader and its supermarket partners.
Such has been the level of transformation that the seven-strong crew headed by Helen Nickells won the Packaging Development Team of the Year at 海角视频 Packaging Awards.
From Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Asda own label products to the Young’s brand and wet fish counter supply, elements of all have been refined.
And where plastic cannot yet be removed or reduced, non-recyclable materials have been changed out for those widely recycled.
Helen Nickells leads the team, delighted with the accolade brought home to Ross House, from where for years now the message has been the responsible sourcing from the seas.
Now as attention has dramatically switched to what could end up back in it, the company is at the forefront of the food industry’s response.
She said: “Our work is all about the development. We work across own-label products and our own brand, we provide innovative packaging solutions, working on sustainability agendas, both our own and those of the retailers.
“Over the past 12 months we have been working really hard on reducing our plastic and moving plastic from non-recyclable to widely recyclable. There is also wider thinking about intelligent choices around materials.
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“A lot of people out there are passionate about this. We are looking at a lot of different approaches across the range.”
Industry firsts include a new type of skin pack for frozen products, bringing forward widely recyclable material where previously it wasn’t, with a lot of work around the recent Simply Steam range addition.
It was a particular challenge in relation to the chilled products it is more familiarly found protecting, with changes to the characteristics rolled out. Other innovations include switching to packaging content which is upwards of 80 per cent paper-based.
“What we do is all about functionality, wastage and sustainability, how the product is going to look on the shelf, how long it can stay there, and there are lots of things to take into consideration,” Mrs Nickells said.
One single change with Asda saw 40 tonnes removed, with other headline adaptations seeing 28 tonnes, 11 tonnes and 10 tonne results.
The team within the £545-million turnover business is also horizon-scanning too. “We have developed a concept that will replace expanded polystyrene boxes which are to be banned in 2022 with DS Smith in Louth,” she enthused, with leak-proofing and edge protection at the core.
The pace of the switch from developing the plastics to reducing and removing is not lost on the industry, as it looks at the wider impact products have.
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“When we are looking at the carbon footprint of the supply chain, manufacturing of food is about 50 per cent, the packaging element, together with distribution is 9 per cent, with a big percentage the cooking and storage.
“We are doing what we can to reduce our element, from box shapes that distribute more on a pallet, maximise deliveries and reduce lorries on the road, to the materials and use.
“We have a dedicated and very experienced packaging management team here at Young’s.”