A recent partnership of Liffey Meats and Graphic Packaging International will supply 2 million PaperSeal tray units annually to Lidl. The packaging includes a fully lined, cut, and glued PaperSeal tray—a barrier-lined paperboard alternative to traditional plastic vacuum skin packaging (VSP). The new Lidl product, made exclusively for the Irish market, will feature Angus and dry-aged Angus with full farm-to-fork traceability from Liffey Meats.
The PaperSeal tray features 80 to 90% less plastic than traditional trays, supporting Liffey and Lidl’s sustainability goals,” explains Lauren Hutchinson, senior sales manager for PaperSeal at Graphic Packaging International. “The tray provides consistent seal integrity to keep the product fresher for longer, up to 28 days of shelf life, depending on the application, and prevents unnecessary food waste.”
For ease of recycling, consumers can easily separate the liner from the tray post-use, making the tray itself 100% recyclable to ensure circularity. The launch is part of Lidl’s “A Better Tomorrow” strategy, which involves reducing plastic packaging volumes by 20% by the year 2022, as well as delivering 100% of its fresh beef from locally sourced suppliers.
In addition to the 80 to 90% plastic reduction, G. Mondini’s Zero technology can be selected, which eliminates film waste during the manufacturing process.
The trays can be supplied formed or flat packed. For the latter, instead of shipping, for example, 3,000 nested and stacked plastic trays, up to 30,000 trays can be flat packed in transport vehicles—10 times the amount.
The introduction of the PaperSeal tray to Lidl top-tier steaks, via the Liffey Meats/ Graphic Packaging partnership, has resulted in a plastic reduction of an estimated 46.5 tons annually, based on an expected 2 million units per year, contributing to Lidl’s corporate social responsibility strategy.
“Per tray, we estimate to go from 27.5 g plastic to 4.21 g, a savings of 85%,” says Ciaran Beirne, retail sales manager at Liffey Meats.
“The current rate for paperboard landfilling is 8% in Europe, which is much below that of plastic packaging [24%]. That means we will prevent more than 7.66 tons of materials per year reaching landfills.”
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