Premier Foods Paxo Packaging Wins Award

Posted on 26 Oct 2022

Premier Foods decided to replace the PVdC coated packaging film on their Paxo stuffing range as part of their commitment to the UK Plastics Pact.

The challenge to the technical team at National Flexible was to supply a film that:

• Provided consumers with a fully recyclable solution.
• Incorporated as much recycled content as possible.
• Matched the sealing integrity and performance of the PVdC coated film.
• Maintained full food packaging compliance.

The resulting replacement film developed by National Flexible in conjunction with the polymer supplier and the film manufacturer, was ‘Highly commended’ in 2 categories at the 2022 UK Packaging Awards held at the London Park Lane Grosvenor Hotel.

The film was ‘Highly Commended’ in the following categories:

• Flexible Plastic Pack Of The Year
• Resource Efficient Pack Of The Year

These awards recognised that the replacement film had 60% recycled content by combining Post-Consumer Recycled waste (P.C.R.) with industrial regrind, to produce a film which met the Premier Foods commitment to the UK Plastics Pact. Research for the project was over a year in the making and the film was also trialled and approved in conjunction with capital investment in new machinery at the Premier Foods site.

The replacement film also gave the following environmental and sustainable advantages:

• The carbon footprint was reduced by circa 30% thus reducing global warming potential.
• Acidification is reduced by circa 25%.
• Eutrophication is reduced by circa 25%.
• Photochemical ozone creation potential is reduced by circa 25%.
• Water consumption is reduced by 40%.
• Primary energy demand is reduced by 15%.
• Recycled content of the film reduces the use of virgin material by circa 37 tonnes per annum.
• The film is exempt from The Plastic Packaging Tax.

(L.C.A validation was by Thinkstep using Gabi software)

In summary the replacement film eliminates the use of PVdC, which is disruptive to the recycling of plastics. The new film is 100% recyclable, has a lower carbon footprint, reduces the use of virgin material, and has many sustainable and environmental advantages. This project also demonstrated how collaboration between the technical teams of the customer, the supplier and the film manufacturer can produce a positive outcome. Lydia McCarthy, Procurement Executive of Premier Foods felt that all involved can be proud of what they achieved over the year, whilst George Slack, MD of National Flexible thanked Jon Wriglesworth of Premier Foods for all his work in ensuring that the project had a successful outcome. 

NB Environmental Packaging Audits

National Flexible provide (without commitment) FREE Environmental Packaging Audits, these audits are undertaken by a member of our technical team, along with a machine engineer. They consider all aspects of the existing packaging operations, including pack design and printing, film selection, pack carbon footprint reduction, machine running speeds and optimum shelf life of the pack contents. These audits invariably result in a resolution in film usage and / or reduced packaging costs.

Please contact Scott McEvoy on (01274) 685566 for more details.  

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