14 Oct. 2022: Walkers has today announced a £14 million investment in new sustainable packaging for its famous crisps which it claims will remove 250 tonnes of plastic from its supply chain each year. The Leicester food snack giant, which has been producing crisps at its factory in Beaumont Leys since 1948, announced that the outer plastic packaging on its crisp multipacks are being replaced by a new cardboard design.

It follows a successful trial involving Tesco and its supermarkets. The firm said that the new-look multipacks will be on the shelves of all major UK supermarkets in the coming weeks.

As part of the new initiative, Walkers said it has also invested in a new, lighter "stretch film" to wrap around factory pallets carrying crisps before they are distributed to retailers. It said that this will mean a 40 per cent reduction in the use of virgin (unrecycled) plastic, year-on-year, in its manufacturing and distribution operation.

The investment will support parent company PepsiCo's aim to "eliminate fossil-based plastic from its crisp and snack bags" across Europe by 2030. The change will affect millions of Walkers 22 and 24-bag multipacks.

Walkers said its new stretch film wrap uses the latest nanotechnology which "puts tiny air bubbles into the film to reduce the amount of plastic used, while retaining the same strength and stretch" needed to protect the nation's favourite crisps as they travel to stores across the country.

A spokeswoman said: "Reducing the amount of fossil-fuel based virgin plastic in the shrink wrap will also reduce the company’s annual carbon emissions by 465 tonnes." She said that the changes will be followed by further innovations to help the environment in the coming months and years.

"In the UK, we are planning to trial new solutions, including packaging made from recycled plastic for its snacks bags," she said. "This all forms part of PepsiCo Positive, the company’s health and sustainability transformation plan, which includes an ambition of reaching net zero emissions by 2040."

Simon Devaney, PepsiCo UK & Ireland's sustainable packaging director, said: "We are constantly exploring new scalable solutions and this investment marks an important step forward, delivering a huge reduction in virgin plastic across some of our best-selling ranges, while also helping to tackle our carbon footprint.

"Reducing virgin plastic across our supply chain is a key part of our commitment to creating a world where packaging never becomes waste."

By Dave Owen, 14 Oct. 2022 https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/