Asda and Ella’s Kitchen team up for baby food packet recycling scheme

Supermarket Asda and baby food company Ella’s Kitchen will trial a six-month pilot to encourage more people to recycle baby food pouches through TerraCycle.

The trial, which begins this week, will see Freepost envelopes provided in 37 Asda stores so shoppers can fill the envelopes with up to 15 baby food pouches from any brand, before posting them to TerraCycle to be recycled into new items.

Ella’s Kitchen has been working in partnership with TerraCycle since 2010 to run its EllaCycle recycling programme, which is currently the only recycling solution for all baby food pouches in the UK.

There are over 400 public EllaCycle drop-off points in the UK where consumers can leave pouches to be sent back to TerraCycle.

Ella’s Kitchen has set a target to double the number of pouches recycled through EllaCycle by 2021.

Ella’s Kitchen and Asda are both members of The UK Plastics Pact, a trailblazing collaborative initiative working to create a circular economy for plastics.

Managed by sustainability experts WRAP, it brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs all who are committed to transforming the UK’s plastic system.

Mark Cuddigan, Head of Ella’s Kitchen said: ‘Our pouches are great in so many ways, they’re lightweight, convenient and they keep our yummy organic food tasty and safe for little ones. But our big challenge is that they are not currently accepted for recycling by local councils in the UK.

‘We want to change this and that’s why we’re proud to have partnered with Asda to offer a new way for parents and carers to recycle all of their baby food pouches through our EllaCycle program.’

In related news, the plastic multi packaging producer Hi-Cone has partnered with recycling firm Terracycle to launch the UK’s first recycling scheme for plastic ring carriers.

Once sent to TerraCycle, the ring carriers will be melted down and turned into plastic pellets, which will be remoulded to form parts of new products such as outdoor furniture.