A new eco-friendly Pringles tube made from 90 percent paper has been launched to allow snackers to pop the packaging of their favourite crisps in with their household recycling.
Now available exclusively in Tesco stores and online, the paper tubes will replace the iconic Pringles, initially launched in the 1960s, with a steel base.
The new tube is made from recycled paper and has a paper base, which means customers can put it straight in their home recycling bin. It will have a plastic lid that can also be recycled.
The company’s packaging experts have rigorously tested the eco-packaging to ensure it protects the iconic saddle-shaped chips and keeps them fresh for 15 months, just like the old can.
The new packaging is exclusively in Tesco stores and online and will be rolled out to other supermarkets towards the end of 2024. Tubes are also in One Stop stores, part of the Tesco Group. Around 48 million recyclable Pringles tubes will be sold in Tesco in the first year alone.
This significant move, which has invested £86 million in new technology, follows the trial of a steel can in Italy in 2019 and a paper tube in the UK in 2020.
Chris Silcock, UK managing director of Kellanova - the company that owns Pringles - said that the business knows people want to reduce their impact on the planet.
“It’s our responsibility to improve the recyclability of our packaging. We’ve worked hard to develop and test a recyclable Pringles paper tube, and we invested significantly in new technology to enable our factories to produce it,” said Silcock.
“Not only is it widely recyclable, but it keeps the chips fresh and tasty and protects them from breaking, which helps to reduce food waste.”
Seàn Cairns, President of Global Rigid Paper and Closures (RPC) at Sonoco, worked with Pringles' technical teams to develop the new ‘designed for recycling’ tube. He notes that consumers are more aware than ever of how their purchasing behaviours impact the environment and the more sustainable packaging options available.
“It’s important for businesses to stay ahead of the curve by exploring new packaging technologies and materials,” said Cairns.
Highlighting the importance of partnership in packaging design, he said it was a pleasure working with Pringles and that he looked forward to seeing how the market received the new paper-based tube.
“We hope the success of this project inspires other companies and brands to convert to more sustainable packaging.”
Paul Sanderson, CEO of the Recycling Association, explained that it had taken much research and development to achieve an entirely paper-based tube with a paper end that keeps the Pringles crisps as fresh as before.
“It is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when manufacturers create packaging that is easy for consumers to recycle. I hope others follow Pringles’ example to help us all get closer to a circular economy,” said Sanderson.
Claire Lorains, Tesco’s Group Sustainability and Quality Director, said that Tesco wants to make it even easier for our customers to recycle, so it was excited to bring a product consumers love more sustainably.
“Across our own brand products, where we can’t remove packaging, we work to ensure it is recyclable and actively encourage our branded suppliers to do the same,” said Lorains.
“The new paper-based Pringles tube from Kellanova demonstrates the tangible environmental opportunities across food packaging that work for customers and the planet. We hope to see other suppliers take similar steps to improve packaging across all the products we sell.”
The recyclable Pringles tube made from 90 percent paper is essential to Kellanova’s commitment to making all its packaging recyclable, reusable, and compostable by 2025.
