Unilever is trialling a new recyclable paper pot, made with FSC-certified paper, for its Pot Noodle instant hot snack brand in the UK.
The new paper pot has launched exclusively in retailer Tesco, with an initial stock of 500,000 of what the company says is the brand’s most popular flavour, Chicken & Mushroom.
The trial will be used to gain shopper feedback and, if it’s successful, the aim is to switch the full range to paper pots – a move which, once complete, could remove 4,000 tonnes of virgin plastic each year, the company claims. It will use insights from the trial to support the scale-up of the innovation at the Pot Noodle factory.
Unilever says that innovating with alternative materials – like paper – will play an important role in delivering its commitment to halve its use of virgin plastic, alongside other innovations such as refillable bottles, increasing the use of recycled plastic, and moving to ultra-concentrated formulas which use smaller bottles.
The innovation process to develop and refine the paper pot was led by its R&D teams at Hive, Unilever’s Global Foods Innovation Centre in the Netherlands, working closely with packaging experts in the UK, and took over three years.
Unilever worked on finding the effective way to reduce the plastic used in each pot, while also ensuring the packaging still holds its shape and does not sacrifice on quality of eating experience.
Andre Burger, general manager Foods (Nutrition) at Unilever UK & Ireland, said, “Pot Noodle has been a much-loved British brand for over 40 years, and while our great taste will never change, we’re always challenging ways to make our products and packaging better.
“From material development and testing through to new manufacturing processes and capabilities, big packaging innovations require the investment of time and expertise across many teams and partners. There have been plenty of challenges along the way, but we are committed to reducing the plastic in our packaging and to a paper-based future for our pots, without compromising on the Pot Noodle experience our shoppers know and love. We are now excited to learn from this initial trial with the ambition of bringing our paper pots to more shoppers across the UK soon.”
Unilever says new pots can be recycled at UK homes with other cardboard and paper and include on-pack recycling labels to provide clear guidance to shoppers on how to dispose of the packaging. A single layer of ultra-thin plastic film is used to provide barrier protection, which ensures ingredients remain fresh and protects the paper when water is added but doesn’t inhibit the recyclability of the pot.
