Coveris to open UK sustainable packaging development facility

Coveris will open a new sustainable packaging facility in the UK as it aims to connect industry stakeholders with new trends, materials, technologies and ways of thinking.

Opening on 31 January 2019 at Coveris’s Rivendell site in Leeds, the Pack Positive Centre is part of an academic partnership with Leeds Beckett University’s Retail Institute.

Coveris said the centre is “strategically positioned to drive the sustainable packaging of the future across multiple plastic and paper formats”.

Having launched its Pack Positive sustainability strategy earlier in the year, US-headquartered Coveris has set itself the goal of delivering 100% recyclable packaging by 2025, in line with UK Plastics Pact targets.

The Pack Positive Centre will focus on driving sustainable value through the entire packaging development process, from ideation and insight, through to testing, print, commercialisation, recyclability, and now focusing on new ways of designing waste back into this process.

It aims to align qualitative research and consumer insights with tangible packaging development.

Gary Rehwinkel, president at Coveris UK, said: “We are delighted to open the Pack Positive Centre and announce our partnership with The Retail Institute at Leeds Beckett University. Building on Coveris UK Plastics Pact commitments, membership of On-Pack Recycling Label, extensive food science and polymer science capabilities, we are determined to support our customers and retail partners in collaborating to deliver tomorrow’s packaging, today.”

The new facility is also expected to drive greater supplier innovation and collaboration and will be used as a test site for new technologies.

Olga Munroe, head of the Retail Institute, added: “The vision of the Coveris Pack Positive Centre is to become academically informed, consumer centred and future thinking hub that will deliver holistic innovation services to the packaging industry. The Retail Institute is delighted to be partners in Coveris’s endeavour, and excited to provide support for an ambitious and important facility that will support the future of packaging.”