1% of bread bag packaging. 100% recyclable.

Start by Using Less Resources

How are we doing that?

Our seals on average are 80% less than the mass of a rigid plastic clip. That’s 5 times less plastic before we even start looking at how to collect, recycle, re-use it or its sustainability! This means that if you’re sealing 15 million bags per year on one sealing machine, you’d use an estimated 2.3 metric tons of plastic less or 4.65 US tons less with our tape seals over a rigid plastic clip.

It’s not just the reduction in raw materials, add in the reduced costs for transport and storage and you can see that it’s one of many significant benefits. Tape seals or closures simply make sustainable sense compared to other options on the market.

Make the product genuinely and easily recyclable

Using less raw materials is not enough, we are driving for better and better for the planet and for future generations.

To start with our tape seals are made with pure polypropylene (PP) which is a recognised and easily recyclable material. You may see this is a PP recycling symbol or PP and the number 5 recycling symbol.

Our small seals are designed so you can seal and reseal your bread bag to maintain freshness. And when the bread is gone, simply leave the seal stuck to the bread bag and It can be recycled with any bread bag made from Polyethylene (PE or LDPE).

The seal represents typically around 1% or less of the bread bag packaging and so does not compromise the recyclability.  No more finding second uses for your bread bag clip or collecting them to recycle separately.

Making it Sustainable

Sustainability is all about making as little impact as possible on the planet and even returning valuable resources for the future.  Bread is one of the single biggest food stuffs with 130 million tons per annum baked worldwide. It’s a relatively cheap, easy and nutritious way to feed the population but of course it does go stale and consequently it is also one of the most wasted foodstuffs too. As packaging specialists we would love to be able to reduce food waste. We can do this by ensuring the packaging contributes to maintaining freshness and certainly the optimal way to do this is via a plastic bag, tightly sealed and yet easy to access by the consumer repeatedly. 

Our tape is coated with a food safe adhesive that allows the seal to be opened and resealed 50+ times before the integrity of the seal and adhesive starts to decline. This resealability means that the food product can stay fresher for longer, reducing food waste too. Reassuringly this adhesive on the tape does not compromise its recyclability either.

Trying to balance freshness to reduce food waste means the use of plastic! Which is why we make our seals genuinely recyclable, and as sustainable as possible.

But why not remove plastic altogether? Use Paper?

While our tape seals and sealing machines are designed to work with paper bags, paper has inherent issues for sustainability, which are well documented. That’s why we still believe bagging bread in a polythene bag with our taped seal is the OPTIMAL method to maintain freshness. However, you can be confident that our seals and machines work perfectly with paper bags too.

It makes food last longer, increases the chances of the full loaf being eaten and reduces food waste. When you consider that food waste is the single biggest contributor to climate control that has to be a good thing.

Working Towards Net Zero

Our work towards net zero by 2030 means we are measuring our carbon emissions with the aim to constantly reduce these figures and get to net zero before 2030. Here are some of the things we’re doing:

  • We are in the process of having solar panels installed on our roof.
  • Our whole tape making process has been brought in-house to reduce transport emissions from across Europe and reduce lead times, avoiding cross border wait times and restrictions.
  • Our field engineers use PHEV or EV vehicles where possible to minimise carbon emissions and we have installed charging points in our car park, for both company and private cars to use.
  • We are part of the Cycle to Work scheme and one third of our workforce are members.
  • We are offsetting emissions through tree planting with a North Yorkshire company .

Educating and Campaigning

Our passion for sustainability means that we campaign to find new ways to collect, re-use and recycle as well as educating the consumer via BreadBags.org and working closely with bag manufacturers such as St John’s Packaging, food producers, supermarkets and working collaboratively with environmental groups such as WRAP and the Plastics Pact to improve our processes.

We are currently working on a cradle to gate fully sustainable tape seal too. Our R&D program is constantly looking at re-inventing how we design, produce and sell products as well as re-thinking how we use and consume materials. We’re re-defining what’s possible in tape sealing via pioneering new partnerships with the plastic film manufacturers.

Spreading the word
one seal at a time

Our vision for a more sustainable way of working is long-term, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why we work collaboratively with our recycling partners, WRAP and Recycle Now, to improve our processes.

Going the extra mile

We have invested in ISO 14001:2015 environmental management accreditation. We also offer an ‘end of life’ service for machines where we will remove and recycle machines to save customers the hassle and to ensure they are fully recycled wherever possible.

These initiatives ensure that the waste we produce from both film and adhesive is recycled.