Waitrose & Partners is introducing an innovative home compostable bag for its Waitrose Duchy Organic bananas, the first of the retailer’s fresh produce to be sold in a home compostable bag and the first banana bag to be home compostable in UK supermarkets.
The move to the bag, made with non-GM corn, will save an estimated 18 tonnes of plastic per year. The bag can be home composted, or reused first as a food caddy liner at home before being home composted.
Tor Harris, Waitrose & Partners said: ‘We’re excited that Waitrose Duchy Organic bananas are the first of our fresh produce to be packaged in our groundbreaking home compostable bag. This move shows the continued efforts we’re making to reduce unnecessary plastic packaging wherever we possibly can and is part of our pledge to make all packaging either widely recyclable, reusable or home compostable by 2023.’
Waitrose & Partners removed plastic bags for its Duchy Organic bananas last year, replacing them with a small plastic band while trials took place on the compostable bag. The bag not only protects and maintains the quality of the bananas it also removes the need for plastic banana box liners. Waitrose & Partners, like many retailers, packages its organic bananas so shoppers can see clearly which bananas are organic and to prevent mix ups.
Waitrose & Partners is also currently trialling a home compostable fruit and vegetable bag for loose produce, which it plans to roll out to all branches in spring this year.
Daphna Nissenbaum
Daphna Nissenbaum, cofounder and CEO of Tipa, was present in France on the occasion of a round table on alternatives to plastics at the Produrable show on April 10, 2019. On April 11, at the 2nd arrondissement town hall in Paris, she also presented its innovation to AJE journalists, French Association of Environmental Journalists at the conference ‘Plastic Between Perils and Innovations’, organized by Matthieu Combe (Natura Sciences) and Esther Amar (Israel Science Info).
Daphna Nissenbaum au micro, colloque AJE, à Paris
Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO de Tipa, au salon Produrable à Paris
The move from plastic to compostable:
The move to a home compostable bag for Waitrose Duchy Organic bananas is part of the Waitrose & Partners sustainable packaging pledges made to The Prince of Wales to mark his 70th birthday. The gift of seven packaging pledges from Waitrose Duchy Organic, the organic food brand originally founded by His Royal Highness in 1992, to reflect The Prince of Wales’s seven decades and honour his leadership on sustainability with all pledges reducing waste and plastic. The move to a cardboard tray for Waitrose Duchy Organic grapes is the first of these seven pledges.
Waitrose & Partners has taken important steps to eliminate unnecessary plastic. For example, removing disposable coffee cups from our shops, eliminating microbeads from our products and innovating in alternatives to plastic, but we want to go further:
- We are determined to make all our own-brand packaging widely-recycled, reusable or home compostable. We will have identified solutions for all our packaging by 2020 and will meet our target by 2023.
- 70% of the plastic in our own-brand product packaging is already widely recyclable. We aim to increase this to 80% by 2020 and 100% by 2023.
- In 2019 we will work further with our customers to determine which plastic packaging can be removed without decreasing quality and reducing shelf life to make sure that we don’t increase food waste.
- We are replacing loose fruit and veg bags with home compostable alternatives by spring 2019 and will remove 5p single-use carrier bags by the end of March 2019.
- By Christmas 2020, our own label cards, wraps, crackers, tags, flowers and plants will either be glitter-free or the retailer will use an environmentally friendly alternative.
More information here