Gressingham Foods, the UK’s biggest duck supplier, has given its packaging an overhaul in a move it says will reduce its environmental impact.
The duck company worked with Coveris and Ravenwood, a packaging firm, to give its fresh duck portion products a new look that will save over 24 tonnes of waste material per year.
“Working with Coveris and Ravenwood has been hugely successful, with both companies understanding our two-part vision to reduce our carbon footprint, whilst retaining our premium look and feel,” said Rebecca Alderton, brand manager at Gressingham Foods.
“As one of the only independent brands in the meat, fish and poultry aisle, we needed the linerless labels to mimic the appearance of the sleeve packaging as much as possible in order to retain our brand recognition and shelf appeal, whilst proving that more eco-friendly packaging changes can be achieved in the sector.”
The new labels from Coveris replace Gressingham’s previous packaging process, which involved Darfresh film on thermoformers on portions of fresh and raw duck, which then had cardboard sleeves put on each pack by hand. A third stage was sometimes used to apply a promotional label. Gressingham said the process could involve up to six people.
“This is a lightweight and sustainable packaging alternative that will save us 24 tonnes of material per year,” said Alderton.
The new packaging will be on shelves from this month.