Con-Agra Adopts 50% Recycled PLA Film

ConAgra Foods has adopted a 50 percent post-industrial recycled Polylactic Acid (PLA) shrink film.

The new film will be used for tamper-evident seals on Fleischmann's, Blue Bonnet and Parkay table spreads, and for printed shrink labels on multi-packs of Reddi-Wip whipped topping and PAM cooking spray, according to a press release.

Con-Agra says the new film will reduce landfill waste, greenhouse gases and energy consumption.

According to Con-Agra, the new material offers these advantages over traditional shrink films:

• It is manufactured using corn, a renewable resource. Traditional shrink films are petroleum-based.
• It contains more than 50 percent post-industrial recycled content, meaning that more than half the material that would traditionally be sent to landfills is now being diverted into a value-added end product.
• It produces less greenhouse gases than traditional shrink films. The initiatives should reduce ConAgra Foods' GHG production by 592,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents.
• It requires less energy at ConAgra Foods' manufacturing facilities, reducing the temperature necessary to shrink the material by approximately 20 percent.
• It provides a higher-quality finished product due to an improved shrink performance.

Con-Agra developed the new material with Plastic Suppliers, Bluepack and NatureWorks LLC.

Converting to the new material should divert more than 350,000 pounds of non-renewable Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and more than 50,000 pounds of Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) from the company's raw material stream annually, the release said.

Here is Con-Agra Foods' corporate sustainability page.

The company has applied other sustainability standards to products like Hunts Ketchup, among others.