Sainsburys to use recycled food crates in UK first

Supermarket giant Sainsburys has partnered with Dutch firm Schoeller Allibert to ensure that all of its old food crates are recycled so that they can be used again for the transport and storage of food in-store.

The supermarket chain claims that the initiative is a UK retail industry first and will help improve efficiency across its stores.

Around 2 million crates from Sainsburys supermarkets nationwide will be handled by Schoeller Allibert under the arrangement, at one of the firms recycling plants in Spain, Germany or the Netherlands.

Traditionally, old or damaged plastic containers could be recycled for other uses but could not re-enter the food supply chain as the plastic was not certified for direct contact with fresh produce such as fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, or bakery products.

Schoeller Allibert has recently received approval from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for its recycling process, which involves the food crates being ground into flakes, washed, dried and transferred to injection moulding machines to produce new crates.

Process

During the injection moulding process, the HDPE or PP flakes are heated to temperatures of up to 250C which removes the risk of any microbiological contamination.

Facilities in Murcia, Spain; Monheim, Germany; and Hardenberg, Netherlands, have all been approved by the EFSA for the process.

Commenting on the scheme, Ludo Gielen, chief marketing and innovation officer at Schoeller Allibert, said: When food-grade crates need replacing due to age or damage, they can be returned to one of our three EFSA-approved facilities for recycling. Providing they have been used in a closed or controlled loop distribution system, which allows traceability of provenance, we can recycle used HDPE and PP material and mould into new crates for use in the food and fresh produce supply chain.

Once returned to Schoeller Allibert they are first inspected then ground down into flakes which are washed and dried before being transferred to the injection moulding area. They then begin a second life as new food-contact approved crates and containers meaning that retailers can replace their inefficient legacy fleet with brand new RTP containers with no pollution and no waste, creating a sustainable packaging cycle all within a matter of weeks.

According to the supermarket chain, the old crates will be recycled into a new more standardised model which will enable them to stack together more efficiently.

Commenting on the initiative, Simon Stokoe, Sainsburys senior strategy manager for supply chain, said: This piece of work was not only about making the right decision for Sainsburys from an efficiency perspective it was also about making sure we did it sustainably. A win win.