Independent premium snack brand “Awfully Posh” has re-launched its peanut range in a 100% recyclable wrapper made from paper, replacing conventional nut packaging which is made from hard to recycle polypropylene.
The relaunched Awfully Posh peanuts will be available to the UK pub and bar market, with an initial launch planned in partnership with RedCat Hospitality – the operator behind the award-winning Coaching Inn Group and RedCat Independent Pubs. The newly packaged premium peanut snacks will roll out across all 95 of the group’s historic and characterful pubs and coaching inns from May 2025.
Peanuts to have a 100% recyclable paper wrapper
Developed by sustainable paper packaging manufacturer, EvoPak, the new paper wrapper (known as MRCM) uses the same award-winning environmentally friendly technology as the world’s first fully recyclable crisp packet1. The packaging incorporates a layer of Hydropol
which makes unrecyclable packaging fully recyclable because it is dissolvable and biodegradable. Its marine-safe, non-toxic polymer technology developed by Aquapak, which specialises in developing high performance, environmentally safe materials to reduce plastic pollution and improve recycling, breaks down harmlessly in all existing recycling streams. If it does escape into the environment, it biodegrades completely, leaving nothing behind such as harmful microplastics.
A planet-friendly alternative to conventional snack packaging
The new paper wrapper provides a functional and planet-friendly alternative to current snack and confectionery packaging which, over the past 30 years, has become complex with the development of lightweight multi-layer structures. This has driven efficiency and shelf life, but the complexity makes them impossible to deal with at end of life. This is compounded by consumer consumption, which is often on the move, making littering a bigger problem than other formats. The other factor is that small units using a complex combination of materials makes recycling and recovery options currently limited, resulting in landfill with no circularity option.
Currently, it is only possible to recycle conventional snack wrappers by returning them to store, which isn’t convenient for consumers and in many cases, where recycling processes aren’t carefully controlled, the wrapper still ends up in landfill or incinerated. This also presents significant challenges for large-scale hospitality operations who are seeking to increase the amount of waste packaging that goes into recycling streams.
OPRL certified as recyclable
The wrappers have been certified as recyclable in standard paper recycling mills by OPRL, the only evidence-based on pack recycling labelling scheme. This means they feature the green recycle logo and can be disposed of in consumer kerbside collections along with other paper material, unlike other nut snack packets.
Premium product protection
HydropolTM gives the paper a functional performance and also provides a high oxygen (OTR) barrier, enabling brands to switch to paper packaging. To meet high moisture barriers needed to keep the nuts fresh in transit and on the shelf, HydropolTM is used in combination with Nissha metallised paper in order to give the moisture barrier required for this application.
Tom Lock, Founder of Awfully Posh, commented: “It is fantastic to have an environmentally responsible packaging solution that protects the planet and our premium nuts. This paper innovation has the potential to transform snack packaging as we know it and we are proud to be one of the pioneering users of the new technology.”
Mark Lapping, Chief Executive Officer, Aquapak, said: “We have collaborated closely with Evopak in the development of this innovative new paper which can provide protection for the most challenging snacks – crisps and nuts – when it comes to keeping them fresh and in top condition. Aquapak’s Hydropol technology combines the functionality of conventional plastics without the environmental consequences, making it a win-win for brands.”
1The British Crisp Co. launched the first fully recyclable paper crisp packet, providing an environmentally friendly and scalable alternative to the eight billion packets thrown away each year in the UK, ending up in landfill or are incinerated.
About Aquapak
Aquapak develops and manufactures a range of specialist polymers to support the production of a new generation of sustainable packaging material that delivers both performance and environmental responsibility at scale.
For example, it has developed HydropolTM, a revolutionary polymer resin that enables brands to improve packaging recyclability, reduce harmful plastic pollution and make the transition to toward a circular economy. HydropolTM is biodegradable, compostable and marine-safe, and can be safely used in a variety of packaging applications.
Aquapak’s HQ and manufacturing centre is in Birmingham, UK, with its main geographical markets in the US, EU and Asia.
About HydropolTM – Accelerating the transition to the Circular Economy
Who is using Hydropol?
Consumers and businesses are increasingly concerned about plastic pollution and environmental sustainability. Packaging producers need solutions. Aquapak has partnered with a growing base of clients in apparel, fashion, hospitality, healthcare, food packaging, logistics packaging, industrial, nonwovens, and other packaging.
What is Hydropol made from?
The base polymer is currently used for dishwasher tablets, ingestible pill casings and soluble stitches. HydropolTM ‘s resistance to low temperature solubility and high barrier to elements adds functionality, providing a wider range of uses. It can be recycled, re-pulped, composted and is distinctively compatible with anaerobic digestion. Furthermore, if unintentionally released into the natural environment, HydropolTM – which is non-toxic and marine safe – will dissolve and subsequently biodegrade, leaving no trace.
What is Hydropol being used for?
Extrusion coatings and laminates for paper/board applications are commercially available and in customer production trial stages, including a number of home delivery and ecommerce applications, packaging for dried pet food, snacks, cooked meat and convenience food applications.
Blown film products commercially available and made from HydropolTM include garment bags, ESD bags, organic waste disposal bags and laundry bags for infection control. These can be disposed of at home by the consumer in hot water or added to the recycling where they dissolve during the recycling wash processes.
Other applications under development with customers and development partners include injection moulded parts such as golf tees, nonwoven fibre for applications such as flushable wet wipes and cellulose combinations for thermoformed trays.
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