Macphie has been shortlisted for three Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Award categories including the new Sustainable Packaging Initiative award.
The FDF Awards recognise and reward excellence for innovation, competitiveness and talent in the food and drink industry. The Sustainable Packaging Initiative is a new category which celebrates how food and drink producers have moved towards more sustainable packaging solutions particularly in respect of plastics. The shortlist of companies includes Britvic PLC, Ernie, Picollo Foods, Suntory Beverage & Food and TrakRap Ltd.
Reducing plastic
Since earlier this year, Macphie has cut back on its use of plastic by switching its range of ready-to-use desserts, sauces and dairy cream alternatives to cartons made up of 86% renewable material. The new Tetra Pak® packaging uses 2.2 times less fossil plastic than the packs previously used.
The one-litre and 500ml cartons now also feature more prominent on-pack recycling instructions to encourage appropriate disposal and help customers meet critical recycling targets.
The move to Tetra Pak’s plant-based packaging forms part of Macphie’s wider aim to reduce the amount of plastic it uses. In 2019, it improved the recyclability of its o.t.t® dessert topping range by moving to white caps from black, following reports that black plastic was harder to recycle.
It also cut over three tonnes of plastic from the process by replacing the bottles’ previous full printed plastic sleeve with front and back labels.
New branding
The move to more sustainable packaging came alongside the company’s rebranding exercise, which saw Macphie launch its new ethos for Simply Clever Food. The brand relaunch is also being recognised at this year’s FDF awards with Macphie shortlisted for Brand Launch of the Year.
And for its efforts to produce much-needed hand sanitiser during global shortages last year, Macphie has been shortlisted for the Community Partner award, alongside the likes of FareShare and Coca Cola. Working with local distilleries and chemical companies, Macphie helped produce bottles of hand sanitiser from their facilities in Aberdeenshire and North Lanarkshire and contributed well over 250,000 bottles to the supply chain.
Macphie CEO Andy Stapley said: “The people and places around us matter to Macphie and we’re continually building sustainability into our business, weaving in better ways of doing things as we go.
“As a certified B Corporation, we’ve made a commitment to using our business as a force for good. We have made good headway in reducing plastic and despite the challenges the last year has thrown our industry, it’s important we press on with our environmental agenda.
“We’ve also done a lot of work to revitalise our brand identity to reflect our ethos for creating simply clever food.
“We felt it was time for a new look. Our products are premium quality and it’s important that our packaging matches that.
“We’re a go-to partner for food brands around the world. We make incredible food with a lot of creativity and clever science behind it and it’s time our brand reflects this. We do all the hard work so our customers don’t have to and it’s great to have our people recognised by FDF.”
The winners of the FDF awards will be announced on 16 September at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.