USA- Confectionery giant Mars has partnered with plastic packaging manufacturer Berry Global to launch snack jars made with 15% recycled plastic.

The easy-grip square jars are produced at Berry’s manufacturing facility, using a single-pellet, food-grade resin to assure a clean, consistent substrate sourced from mechanical recycling.

Berry contributed its problem-solving skills and technical knowledge to assist Mars move closer to its sustainability goals. In addition to the inclusion of PCR, the jar is also widely recyclable.

“By leveraging our material science expertise and technical resources, we proactively created a solution for Mars without disruption to product performance,” said Brian Hunt, an EVP, and General Manager for Berry Global’s Consumer Packaging North America Division.

He noted that through partnerships and creative thinking such as this, customers look to Berry for unique solutions to their sustainability challenges.

As part of Mars’ ongoing commitment to sustainability, the company is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to reimagine and redesign its packaging.

 “At Mars, we want to contribute to a circular economy where packaging material never becomes waste, but is recycled, reused, or composted,” said Justin Comes, Vice President of R&D, Mars Wrigley North America.

“We have set an aggressive, science-based strategy to innovate our packaging and this change to 15% PCR for these large-format jars is a significant step towards a more sustainable future.”

The company earlier received a Letter of No Objection (LNO) from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its recycling technology, CleanStream recycling technology.

Berry Global, Inc is a Fortune 500 global manufacturer and marketer of plastic packaging products.

With its headquarters in Evansville, Indiana, it has over 300+ facilities across the globe and more than 47,000+ employees.

The company earlier received a Letter of No Objection (LNO) from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its recycling technology, CleanStream recycling technology.

The technology is the first closed-loop system to mechanically process domestically recovered household waste polypropylene (PP) back into food-grade packaging.

The LNO confirms that the post-consumer recycled (PCR) PP produced by the CleanStream process can be used in levels up to 100% recycled content for food contact applications.

Berry says that the CleanStream PCR-PP has been extensively tested across a range of products and processes with extremely good results.

CleanStream has received funding from the UK Research and Innovation’s Smart Sustainable Plastics Packaging Challenge, which will support the material’s application for EU approvals.

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