Cereal boxes are easily recyclable. Unfortunately, you can’t say the same thing about the liner inside as they typically get made from plastic and are unrecyclable by most curbside programs.
The inability to recycle the plastic bags inside breakfast cereal packaging isn’t lost on Kellogg’s, which has been piloting a new, paper-based liner in Europe this year in partnership with grocery chain Tesco.
According to Kellogg’s, the new paper-based liner performs and protects cereal just as well as conventional plastic liners. The new paper-based liners now make recycling the entire cereal packaging possible. Additionally, the pilot produced thousands of cartons without requiring a change in production machinery or Tesco operations.
“Tesco has really taken a leadership role, globally, for its sustainability efforts, so they were quite happy and willing to take part in the trial,” said Janice Murphy, Kellogg’s Europe sustainable packaging lead, in a press release.
“There will be additional factors we have to look at when we enter the next phase of our trial, but we’re hopeful that this will give us a road map for how we can expand paper liners to all cereal boxes in all regions,” Murphy added.
The announcement comes on the heels of Tesco’s move to eliminate plastic wraps on drinks while maintaining per-unit prices on private-label beverage bottles and cans, saving at least 12 million pieces of plastic annually.
Images courtesy of Kellogg’s.
