Sustainability

UK retailers choose Greiner Packaging’s self-separating K3® r100 packaging

26.02.2025 | 2 min read

Rachel Sheldon

Seven leading UK retailers are now using the sustainable K3® r100 cup for their own-brand instant porridges.
The innovative packaging automatically separates cardboard and plastic, achieving a recycling rate of up to 98%.
The award-winning K3® r100 cup enables environmentally friendly disposal and supports a circular economy.

Seven of the UK’s leading food retailers have transitioned to Greiner Packaging’s sustainable K3® r100 self-separating packaging solution for their own-brand instant porridges. Waitrose, Greggs, Morrisons, M&S, Tesco, Lidl, and Asda have all adopted the award-winning innovation.

“We are excited to see so many UK retailers realising the benefits of our self-separating packaging solution, following Symington’s which became the first UK food producer to move over to K3® r100 for its Oatburst instant porridge brand last July.”

Rachel Sheldon, Sustainability and Innovation Manager

Smart Recycling for Greater Sustainability

The K3® r100 represents a breakthrough in sustainable packaging, ensuring high recyclability rates of up to 98% without relying on consumer intervention. Unlike regular cardboard-plastic combinations, where consumers have to manually separate the cardboard wrap from the plastic cup, K3® r100’s materials separate automatically before reaching the recycling facility’s near-infrared detection system. This guarantees proper detection, sorting, and recycling, optimizing the packaging’s environmental impact.

Self-separation for outstanding recyclability:

K3® r100

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From Innovation to Evolution: The Development of the K3® Cup

K3® r100 is the latest evolution of the original K3® cardboard-plastic cup which was invented by Greiner Packaging over 40 years ago. Originally developed to reduce plastic material usage, nowadays the K3® 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. The K3® r100 therefore enables cardboard and plastic to be assigned to the correct material streams during the initial sorting process, before being recycled.

Award-Winning Sustainable Packaging Innovation

In October 2023, 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. In January 2024, the K3® r100 received the World Star Packaging Award. Last November, Greiner Packaging’s K3® r100 was awarded the Packnews Special Prize within the Packnorth Awards 2024, recognizing outstanding innovation in sustainable packaging.