• Birds Eye is making a number of changes to the packaging of its vegetable range, starting with its Natural Vegetable lines
• The move forms part of Birds Eye and Nomad Foods’, pledge to make 100% of its consumer packaging recyclable by the end of 2022
• The packaging revamp comes at a time when the frozen vegetable category is currently worth £455m[1].

Birds Eye, the branded leader in the frozen vegetable category [2], is taking a step closer to achieving its sustainability targets by moving to recyclable packaging on its Natural Vegetable products. As part of a phased approach across December 2020 and the start of 2021, the update will remove 379 tonnes of plastic and will be the start towards ensuring all of the brand’s vegetable lines will have recyclable packaging.

Jess Ali, Senior Marketing Manager Vegetables at Birds Eye, said: “Shoppers are increasingly looking for brands that are making a positive difference on issues they care about, and we’re committed to ensuring all of our vegetable lines will have recyclable packaging by the end of 2022. The new packaging across our Natural Vegetable and Peas portfolio will make a significant difference to our sustainability commitment by removing approximately 379 Tonnes of non-recyclable material from the market annually.

“This is the culmination of a thoroughly thought-out process, balancing our sustainability targets while retaining the elements that shoppers look for in our products. We know consumers want to see a reduction in plastic used by brands, yet also value the practical, resealable functions of our bags. We’ve therefore made a deliberate effort to find a more sustainable solution, adopting a press-to-close function, which will help shoppers to keep their freezers tidy while reducing the amount of plastic we use across the range.”

The update will see new recyclable materials and components replace the existing packaging used, across all Natural Veg products whilst also reducing excess packaging by reducing the size of the bags but keeping the same amount of vegetables. The recyclable packaging will launch into stores from mid-December, across the following lines:

• Field Fresh Supersweet Sweetcorn
• Field Fresh Garden Peas & Sweetcorn
• Field Fresh Select Mixed Vegetables
• Field Fresh Country Mixed Vegetables
• Birds Eye Garden Peas (2021)
• Birds Eye Petis Pois (2021)

[2] Nielsen Scantrack 52weks WE 31.10.20 – Market Share 26.1%