20 Dec 2021 --- Iceland is partnering with Mondi to improve the environmental sustainability of its product packaging. Mondi’s functional barrier paper will give the supermarket an 80% plastic usage reduction, says the company.The partnership comes as part of Iceland’s ambition to eliminate plastic packaging entirely by 2023.Iceland’s current plastic packaging will be replaced with Mondi’s functional barrier paper solutions across various product portfolios. The first product to be converted is the retailer’s frozen chicken dippers, which has already achieved the targeted annual plastic reduction of 80%.Iceland aims to be the first UK supermarket to become plastic neutral, replacing virgin plastic with paper packaging wherever possible and “offsetting” its remaining plastic footprint by “recovering and recycling environmental and nature-bound waste plastic”. Innova Market Insights identified “Fiber-based Frenzy” as one of its top packaging trends in 2021. According to the market researcher, more than half of global consumers (52%) regard packaging’s recyclability as its most important sustainability credential. A further 52% regard reusability as the most important credential, followed by recycled material use (41%). Meanwhile, 72% of global consumers and 62% of US consumers recognize paper’s “exceptional” recyclability.
