Recycling, Circular Economy, Innovation

Symington’s first in UK to choose recyclable K3® r100 from Greiner Packaging

03.07.2024 | 3 min read

Jörg Sabo

The K3® r100 product innovation has made the impossible possible

Kremsmünster, Austria, July 2024 – Symington’s has been using Greiner Packaging’s K3^® cardboard-plastic packaging solution for its Naked brand instant noodles since 2021 and is now the first UK food producer to move its Oatburst instant porridge brand to Greiner’s award winning K3^® r100 self-separating variant.

"The K3^® r100 product innovation has made the impossible possible. The cardboard wrap and plastic packaging separate from each other without human intervention during the waste disposal process. This means that achieving a high recyclability rate (up to 98%) does not depend on proper separation by the end consumer – which was the case with all previous K3^® packaging – as it now happens completely independently before the used packaging reaches the recycling facility

Rachel Sheldon, Greiner Packaging UK & Ireland Sustainability and Innovation Manager

K3® r100’s sustainability credentials are a perfect match

“Oatburst is ideal for people on the go, so we are delighted that however consumers dispose of the empty container when they have finished enjoying their instant porridge snack, the two packaging materials will self-separate to enable recycling during the waste disposal process,” says Symington’s Finance Director Julian Wetton.

“We were already fans of the original K3^® packaging solution from Greiner Packaging, but this new K3^® r100 development is really exciting as we can be confident that we have put a perfectly recyclable product into the market.”

Award winning K3® r100

Invented by Greiner Packaging over 40 years ago, and designed for recycling, the K3^® cardboard-plastic cup is not only convenient and features an appealing look – its sustainability characteristics are extremely attractive, too. It features a unique tear-tab so that consumers can intuitively separate the cardboard outer wrap from the lightweight plastic cup to enable recycling.

With the latest development, K3^® r100, the materials separate themselves before they reach the near-infrared detection (NIR) system at the recycling facility, leading to proper detection, sorting and recycling. K3^® r100 therefore enables cardboard and plastic to be assigned to the correct material streams during the initial sorting process, before being recycled.

In January, K3^® r100 received the World Star Packaging Awards, and last October, Greiner Packaging received the Green Packaging Star Award, from the Austrian magazine KOMPACK, for Berglandmilch being the first company in the country to use the self-separating K3^® r100 packaging.