September 21, 2020
Ornua’s new innovative pack to deliver 40% saving in plastic
Ornua Foods UK has announced a significant step forward in its quest to reduce the amount of plastic it uses in its cheese packaging. The launch of the Megablock, a simple but innovative new packaging solution, will deliver a saving of over 40% of plastic per pack of Pilgrims Choice with a projected reduction of 83 tonnes of plastic annually.
Pilgrims Choice, the UK’s No. 2 branded cheddar whose range is growing by nearly 36%*, will start to migrate to the new, more eco-friendly pack format from the end of September. The new Megablock will not only deliver a saving of over 40% of plastic per pack for Pilgrims Choice but will come in optimum-sized shelf ready packaging containing more packs per case. This will help achieve a total packaging saving of 110 tonnes with a reduction of 1,321 road miles and 1.75 tonnes of C02.
Complementing Pilgrims Choice’s renowned depth of flavour, the greater depth of the new block results in a chunkier block shape making it easier for consumers to handle the cheese when cutting, grating, or slicing it for the perfect sandwich. The new range will be branded with the simple stand-out message of ‘Same weight…40% Less Plastic’ which will be reinforced by a £3 million fully integrated marketing campaign featuring out of home advertising and extensive digital and social media.
Commenting on the development of the new Megablock Mike Harper, Ornua Foods UK’s Marketing Director said, “We set ourselves the challenge of creating a format that enabled us to pack the same amount of cheese, using less plastic, whilst improving the experience of consumers. In short, we wanted a packaging solution that was ‘Less Plastic More Fantastic’ and we believe the Megablock delivers on this. The creation of the Megablock epitomises Pilgrims Choice’s challenger brand mindset in our determination to drive forward the category through delivering innovative solutions to consumer needs. We’re on a mission to help the planet one block of cheese at a time, but we recognise the need to do more so we will be implementing further plastic reduction solutions across the Pilgrims Choice range in 2021.”
The plastic reduction will be further magnified with Tesco adopting the new pack format for its own-label cheddar ranges supplied by Ornua Foods. A move which will save a further 95 tonnes of plastic as a part of Tesco’s 4R packaging programme – Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
James Bull, Head of Packaging at Tesco said, “We have plans to remove all non-recyclable and excess packaging from our business and are working with a number of brands to achieve this. It’s great to see Ornua cut down on the amount of plastic being used in our stores and we encourage other brands to do the same.”
The development and adoption of the Megablock format is just one part of Ornua’s focus on making positive environmental choices. Central to this is the business’s commitment to monitoring and reducing a series of environmental key performance indicators including its carbon footprint, plastic savings and its product and packaging recycling and wastage rates.