Marks & Spencer has taken a huge step in the recycling of its fresh produce packaging with its salad boxes completely reproduced from plastic bottles.

UK consumers' old plastic bottles are being recycled by Dagnenham-based company Closed Loop Recycling, which turns them into recycled PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate). The product is then transferred to Reynolds Food Packaging where it is made into salad boxes, and the finished boxes are subsequently sent to M&S’s suppliers and filled with ready-to-go produce. Some 90 per cent of the M&S Food to Go range is currently recycled.

Dr Helene Roberts, M&S head of packaging, said: “This is a major step forward for M&S recycling and really does ‘close the loop’ for UK food recycling. It is a win-win situation for everyone - M&S consumers can buy one of our salads and know that when they put the box in their recycle bin they are supporting the recycling of bottles within the UK. This also means that we can increase the amount of recycled content in our food packaging while driving the market for food packaging recycling in the UK.”

A selection of M&S’s Food to Go salads are being produced using the recycled PET and will contain up to 40 per cent rPET (recycled PET) from UK consumers' old plastic bottles, and more than 50 per cent recycled content in total.

The retailer hopes to increase the percentage of recycled content and extend the use of UK-recycled PET to other products in its food range as soon as more recycled PET can be produced in the UK.

“We hope that by driving the market for recycled food packaging we will be able to increase the use of recycled PET across our food range - using more sustainable sources for our packaging is one of the main aims of our 'eco-plan', Plan A," said Roberts.

Last year M&S pioneered an office recycling scheme with Closed Loop Recycling to encourage offices across the UK to adopt a recycling and collection service for food waste as part of the M&S Food to Go range relaunch, which details the scheme on its packs.

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