Our Raw Dog Food Packaging and Its Environmental Impact

OPP is a very thin plastic film sleeve that can run through our portioning system. It can also be heat sealed and accurately printed. The food then goes off to the freezer ready to be stored until it is sold through our shops or here on the website.

The printing needs to be highly detailed and clear to ensure both our staff and our customers can see the name of the product, barcode and use by dates.

OPP can now be recycled at most of the major supermarkets, although all the different supermarket brands handle the process in different ways.

We looked at Tesco’s and how they handle the process. From 23rd August 2021, shoppers at all of Tesco’s large stores will be able to bring back any soft plastic packaging for recycling. The supermarket expects to collect more than 1000 tonnes a year and will recycle as much of this material as possible back into products and packaging sold in Tesco stores.

You can read more about the Tesco recycling story here.

EPS boxes are by far the best current solution to safely and hygienically transport our frozen mince sleeves through the local and national delivery networks without the foods defrosting and subsequently becoming ruined.

Within our local delivery rounds you can return the delivery boxes to our drivers. We will happily collect the boxes when we deliver your next order and have them brought back to our factory to be re-used. Those that are too damaged to be re-used will be recycled accordingly.

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) can be recycled and is recycled up and down the UK and around the world. It is one of the most efficient and cost effective insulating materials on the planet. Its low rate of thermal conductivity makes it super reliable for transporting temperature sensitive products.

Not many people know that EPS is 100% recyclable. Clean material can be reused in the manufacturing process of new poly boxes. Any slightly contaminated material can be compacted and turned into recycled rigid plastic products.

Expanded Polystyrene is very similar to a party balloon because what you see, when you look at a piece of EPS or a balloon is only the 2% of what makes up the items final shape. The 98% of the object that you do not see is thin air!

EPS has an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of zero and causes no damage to the ozone layer because no CFC’s or HCFC’s are used during the manufacturing process. EPS is inert, does not leach any chemicals and is completely food contact safe.

If you would like to read a more detailed explanation of how EPS affects the environment then please click here.

We constantly review our packaging solutions and if a better way to maintain the quality of our raw dog food and cat food products is found then we will start using that solution as quickly as possible. Until then we will continue to use both OPP and EPS in order to keep waste to a minimum and maintain the quality of our foods from our production plant to your freezer.