Purina launches its first ‘designed to be recyclable’ pouch ranges in UK

Nestlé Purina has launched its first ‘designed to be recyclable’ pouch ranges in the UK, following a successful year-long pilot study with the Felix brand in the Netherlands.

The wet cat food Gourmet is featuring the new mono-material packaging with the relaunch of its Mon Petit range. This new packaging will be introduced in more than 20 countries across Europe, including the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Italy.

The relaunch marks an important step in Purina’s path towards 100% reusable or recyclable packaging by 2025. This journey will continue in early 2023 with the introduction of packaging that is ‘designed to be recyclable’ for the Felix Soup range. Felix is the EU leader in wet cat food.

The new pouches address a longstanding challenge for manufacturers – how to provide consumers with simpler plastic structures that are easier to recycle without compromising on product taste, quality and safety.

The improved packaging is made of Polypropylene (PP), which allows the pet food pouches to be designed to be recyclable, whilst being resistant to high temperatures and offering robust protection for their contents.

The pouches will be sold in a cardboard box which itself is recyclable. This box will contain six pouches with three different flavours.

Sokhna Gueye, head of packaging at Nestlé UK&I, says: “The new mono material pouches are another great example of our commitment to using simpler packaging, making recycling easier for pet owners. These new pouches demonstrate progress and can now be recycled at larger supermarkets in the UK and at kerbside in Ireland.

“Simplification of our pouch structures will also enable this type of packaging to be part of flexible packaging household recycling collection, which has been announced by the Government to be introduced by March 2027. We look forward to rolling out mono material pouches across the rest of our UK pet portfolio in the coming years.”

Jeff Hamilton, Europe chief executive officer of Nestlé Purina, adds: “We are proud to be playing our part in creating a world where pets and people can thrive, and initiatives like this support our goal of offering solutions that are better for pets, and the planet.”