Lidl to introduce packaging containing ocean-bound plastic in UK stores from March

LONDON (ICIS)–Discount retailer Lidl will start using ocean-bound plastic packaging across 13 fresh fish products in its UK stores from March, the company announced in a press release on Monday.

According to the release, Ocean bound plastic is plastic found within 50km (30 miles) of an ocean coastline or major waterway that feeds into the ocean, specific to countries and regions that lack waste management infrastructure.

Lidl GB’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Georgina Hall commented: “We are proud to be the first UK supermarket introducing packaging incorporating plastic that would have otherwise ended up in the ocean, helping to tackle the problem directly as part of our commitment to prevent plastics ending up as waste.

“We are actively looking to extend this innovative solution to other product lines to help reduce the amount of plastic ending up in our oceans and keep our environments healthy.”

The packaging was developed with partners Copernus, Sharpak and Bantam Materials.

Bantam will supply the ocean-bound plastic via its Prevented Ocean Plastic (POP) program, and Sharpak part of Groupe Guillin, a packaging manufacturer which manufactures Lidl’s new fish trays, the press release said.

Bantam Material’s Raffi Schieir told ICIS: “We are aligning recycling standards in at-risk communities for ocean plastics to deliver the quality and volumes the market requires while genuinely doing something positive about the ocean plastics programme.”

The Prevented Ocean Plastics programme currently supplies over 1,000 tonnes/month to the market, Schieir added.

The European recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) market struggles from huge under capacity compared to demand levels, so any new streams of material that would go towards addressing the lack of available materials will be of interest to market participants.

However, it waits to be seen if other brands and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) consider Prevented Ocean Plastics as an addition or alternative to existing R-PET supplies.