packaging : DS Smith invests 100 million pounds to boost circular economy projects
The company's Circular Economy led Sustainability strategy pledges to offer all customers 100 percent recyclable packaging within two years and replace a billion pieces of supermarket and e-commerce plastic by 2025.
DS Smith puts investment in new materials development including new fully recyclable, translucent packaging to replace plastic windows in sandwich and ready meals packs, and new research into alternative natural fibres, in expansion of its barrier technologies such as its recent piloting of ‘Touchguard’, a packaging coating that resists the transmission of viruses and in-depth analysis of different fibres in recycled paper and corrugated to optimise its strength, resilience and recyclable properties.
The company also invests in R&D projects for Designing out waste, for example the real world analysis of e-commerce home delivery supply chains or new trials on strengthening natural paper fibres to optimise materials in box design and manufacturing.
The also put investment in the creation of ‘Unit 17’, a new prototyping and testing facility in the UK.