Gressingham cuts carbon footprint adopting linerless sleever
Renowned duck brand, Gressingham Foods, has teamed up with Ravenwood Packaging and linerless printer, Coveris, for driving its sustainability initiatives by adopting linerless labels across its range of duck portion products.
The packaging revamp has allowed the UK’s main supplier of duck to save on manpower and slash its carbon footprint, saving over 24 tonnes of waste material per year. Carbon emissions have also been dramatically reduced with a saving of 3,400 kg of CO2 per annum.
The new linerless labels are produced by Coveris and replace Gressingham’s labour-intensive and time-consuming three-tier packaging process. Previously thermoformers would apply film to portions of duck and then cardboard sleeves were then hand applied to each pack. A third stage was sometimes used to apply a promotional label which meant up to six people could be involved.
For the label application, Gressingham opted for a Ravenwood Nobac 5000V linerless sleever for automating the entire process.
Dave Gooding, Ravenwood’s commercial director said: “The 5000V is perfectly suited to Gressingham’s products and by switching to linerless means the sleeves are now automatically applied, with less waste, coupled with a reduced sleeve material weight. Linerless is highly sustainable and has resulted in Gressingham’s emissions being massively reduced.”
In addition to C-wrap labels, Ravenwood’s Nobac 5000V is the ultimate solution for labelling whole birds including a variety of MAP and VSP trays as well as shrink wrap. The applicator is also equipped to apply shaped labels and products that feature extended back panels on C-wrap and trayed whole birds. A maximum pack height of 125mm applies, making this machine ideal for protruding products.
“Working with Coveris and Ravenwood has been hugely successful, with both companies understanding our two-part vision to reduce our carbon footprint, whilst retaining our premium look and feel,” explains Rebecca Alderton, brand manager at Gressingham Foods.
“As one of the only independent brands in the meat, fish and poultry aisle, we needed the linerless labels to mimic the appearance of the sleeve packaging as much as possible in order to retain our brand recognition and shelf appeal, whilst proving that more eco-friendly packaging changes can be achieved in the sector,” adds Rebecca.
The new packaging is set to roll out across all Gressingham retail outlets in March 2023.
Based in Suffolk, Gressingham foods was founded in 1989 and produces a range of products including fresh duck and poultry, Aromatic Crispy Duck Kits and a Bistro range featuring a wide selection of delicious duck classics. Gressingham Duck® products are available in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrisons and Ocado.
