Amcor, Mars Food Celebrate Pilot of Designed to be Recycled Microwavable Rice Pouches

Amcor and Mars Food celebrated the supermarket roll-out of easier to recycle microwavable rice pouches in the UK. 

This new pouch, designed to be recycled, will be piloted with Uncle Ben’s Ready to Heat Wholegrain rice and will be available in Tesco stores starting in mid-April. 

The innovation, Amcor said, delivers on the commitment made by it and Mars Food in December 2020 to deliver easier to recycle packaging for microwaveable food pouches in the first quarter of 2021.

This innovation uses Amcor’s proprietary AmLite HeatFlex technology to allow Mars Food to retain the shape, long shelf-life, functionality and high safety standards needed for its ready-to-heat rice packaging while adding the benefits of being easier to recycle. 

Amcor’s recyclable AmLite HeatFlex technology has a broad range of applications for food products that require the packaging to be heated either during manufacturing or at-home consumption.

The roll-out of Uncle Ben’s (soon to be rebranded as Ben’s Original), new pouch coincides with several major UK retailers announcing in-store trials to collect and recycle flexible packaging material such as this.

Major supermarkets have announced that they expect to roll out in-store recycling to cover the whole of the UK over the coming years, according to Amcor. 

“The new Mars Food pouch breaks new ground and represents significant progress toward both companies’ commitment to more sustainable products,” said Michael Zacka, president, Flexibles EMEA at Amcor. “Amcor’s innovation approach is to work in partnership with brands like Mars to deliver packaging that meets the needs of its consumers, including on sustainability, and which can act as a catalyst for new waste management and recycling infrastructure. We are committed to remaining the packaging partner of choice for forward-thinking brands looking for innovative solutions that will reduce waste in the environment and drive up recycling.”