Behind the scenes most brands are working hard to reduce their footprint. Consumer recognition for their efforts is harder to come by.
Single-use plastic in particular and sustainability in general are ongoing concerns for the food sector. Last year saw supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda remove plastic bags from their online deliveries and more recently Tesco announced the removal of plastic from multipack items. Morrison’s removed plastic from fresh fruit and vegetables but also allowed consumers to bring reusable containers to their meat, fish and cheese counters.
Consumers worry about plastic but expect retailers and brands to do most of the work in reducing its impact. Kantar’s recent report Who Cares, Who Does reveals that only 20% of people believe that it is their responsibility to use less plastic and yet only 10% can name a brand that stands for sustainability.
Unilever is one business among many making real efforts, for example the manufacturer of Pot Noodle plans for their instant snack brands to be “fully reusable, recyclable or compostable” by 2025. Other brands who have launched innovations recently include pasta brand Barilla who now have a 100% compostable box and ready-meal producer Bol who use packaging which is derived from sugar cane.
