Amcor and Mars Food introduce recycled microwavable rice pouches

Packaging company Amcor and Mars Food launch easier to recycle microwavable rice pouches in the UK, which will be piloted with Uncle Ben’s rice at Tesco stores from mid-April.

This design uses Amcor’s AmLite HeatFlex technology – retort, recyclable mono-material packaging – which helps packaging to retain the shape, long shelf-life, functionality and high safety standards needed for the ready-to-heat rice packaging. The AmLite HeatFlex technology can be heated either during manufacturing or at-home consumption.

‘Amcor’s innovation approach is to work in partnership with brands like Mars to deliver packaging that meets the needs of their consumers, including on sustainability, and which can act as a catalyst for new waste management and recycling infrastructure,’ says Michael Zacka, President of Flexibles Europe, Middle East & Africa at Amcor 

Helen Bird at WRAP says, ‘The UK Plastics Pact strategy is for all types of plastic bags and wrappers to be collected for onward recycling. The ability to recycle the material is largely dependent on its design. In many cases this means that the packaging needs to be simplified, requiring research and innovation.

‘WRAP is delighted to see this break-through in microwavable food pouch design which means that once it is collected, it can go on to be recycled into new items. And these collections are coming.’