Warburtons’ Seeds and Grains Range

The Big 21 loaf / Source: Warburtons

EuropeFood & BeveragePackagingPaperSylvicta

4 MINUTE READ

Nadine Smith

WHAT WE SAY:

What could be better than sliced bread? Sliced bread that doesn’t come packaged in plastic, that’s what.

UK-based Warburtons is making our toasty dreams come true with its new use of 100% recyclable paper packaging – rolled out across a small selection of its products in spring 2022. Replacing bread’s notoriously difficult-to-recycle soft plastic bags with paper might seem obvious, but the shelf-life of this pantry staple is a tricky thing to manage. Warburtons has tackled this challenge head-on, but its limited use thus far has us questioning if this is just another niche rollout aimed at a growing number of environmentally conscious consumers?

KEY FACTS:

Warburtons is trialling a new 100% recyclable Paper bag across three loaves in its premium Seeds and Grains range. The company claims that the bag does not affect the freshness of the loaf.
Available in the UK from April 2022, the new packaging aims to combat the issue with traditional, difficult-to-recycle plastic or waxed paper bread bags used on Warburtons’ products.
The company is transparent about the expense of this change, stating that it costs four times as much as polythene bags, and for technical reasons connected to the closure of the bag, the packaging line has to run at a slower speed too.
Warburtons states that the move was a direct response to growing consumer demand for more sustainable packaging solutions, but does not indicate when, or if, it plans to roll it out across all of its products.
The new bag is recyclable through the existing paper and card waste kerbside recycling systems in the UK.

Seeds and Grains range / Source: Warburtons

DIVE DEEPER:

Bread from supermarket retailers typically comes packaged in a low density polyethylene (LDPE) bag. These plastic bags are problematic to recycle, considered uneconomic by council kerbside recycling schemes, and therefore not collected. Only 20% of Brits even try to recycle their plastic bread bags, and with 3.5 billion of them used a year, that is a lot of plastic waste in landfill, incinerators or the open environment.
What’s more, when supermarkets such as Tesco instigate collection and recycling streams for these flexible plastic bags, they still don’t get effectively or responsibly disposed, so the only solution is to eradicate them entirely.
Warburtons’ launch of a paper bag comes after it claimed to be developing a vegetable-based compostable alternative to its waxed paper bags for its Toasties range in 2019. It is assumed this paper bag does not use a wax coating as wax-coated paper is not currently recyclable kerbside.
The products trialled in the new paper packaging are three 700 gram loaves: The Big 21, Plant Power and Make It Grain. All are wholemeal, high in fibre and protein, and low in saturated fat and sugar. They are available at Asda and Tesco and retail at GBP 1.85 (USD 2.35).
The Seed and Grains range is the brand’s healthier bread range, providing a range of nutritional benefits. It is right that a product designed for health-conscious consumers shouldn’t come packaged in a material directly related to health concerns.

"The move was a direct response to growing consumer demand for more sustainable packaging solutions."

Warburtons

Key Design Considerations:

Mass-market vs niche rollout

While it is positive that Warburtons is considering alternatives to LDPE and plastic-based, waxed packaging, the premium Seeds and Grains range is a small, speciality sector of its business. Warburtons produces over two million products daily, so the impact this rollout can have is a mere drop in the ocean. Brands must strive for large-scale change that has a lasting, widespread impact.

100% recyclability

The brand claims this packaging is 100% recyclable, but it features a tag at the closure and a transparent window – both of which are often made from plastic and are challenging to create without. While there are translucent, paper-based materials on the market that Warburtons could be using – Sylvicta by Arjowiggins comes to mind – it’s important to determine if this paper pack is using one. Likewise, the closing tag could be paper with a plastic-based adhesive – impacting full recyclability.

Don’t rely on third-party recycling schemes that don’t live up to claims

Warburtons has previously relied on TerraCycle to capture packaging that would be rejected by kerbside schemes, requiring consumers to send packs to the company for processing, likely via collection drop-off points. TerraCycle is currently under scrutiny for not delivering on its promises, with a recent documentary on the BBC shining a light on its very low recycling rates. Whether TerraCycle is a viable future solution or not, remember that plastic can never be recycled, only downcycled, and relying on recycling to solve the plastic waste problem will never work.