Waitrose will begin to package a substantial portion of its private label pears in more environmentally friendly material developed by the Fruition group and two units of Groupe Guillin-France, FruitNet.com reports.
In order to replace the less sustainable polystyrene that it had been using, Fruition, which is the biggest apple and pear grower group in Britain, has worked with Sharpak and Nespak to develop new packaging for the Waitrose private label Perfectly Ripe Pear range.
Of all the pears sold in Waitrose supermarkets, about 40 per cent fall under this.
"This is a fantastic achievement after many years of working towards a more environmental solution that Sharpak have managed to provide to the Waitrose customers," said Rik Connor, business unit manager at Fruition.
Stefan De Cristoforo, technical manager at Waitrose said, “Although packaging is not at the forefront of our customers' minds, they expect Waitrose to always be as environmentally friendly as possible. This move to EPP material will reduce the volume of non-recyclable material by 20 tonnes this year, and we hope to develop additional lines into using EPP."
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here
