Burger King pilots reusable ‘clamshell’ packaging for burgers in partnership with Loop

The pilot will run from 26 April 2022 until 5 September 2022

Burger King is offering reusable packaging for burgers – in a “clamshell” – Chilli Cheese Bites, drinks and a range of sides. The packaging will be rolled out across five restaurants in Ipswich and Newmarket, with customer response set to determine any plans for a wider rollout.

Burger King’s Nicola Pierce said: “We’re delighted to unveil a trial range of re-usable and returnable packaging for our restaurants. The launch of the new packaging from Burger King UK will include the first ever re-usable and returnable ‘clamshell’ for burgers and sides in the UK.

“We’re excited to see how the trial performs over the next five months and help us reach our goal of eliminating single-use plastic within our restaurants by 2025.”

Customers can pay a £1 deposit to purchase food in reusable containers, instead of single-use packaging. Customers can then return the packaging via the Loop app to search for bins for that collect the reusable items. Some of these bins will be located a Burger King restaurants.

The pilot will run from 26 April 2022 until 5 September 2022.

TerraCycle’s founder Tom Szaky said: “The partnership between Loop and  Burger King UK enables customers in selected UK restaurants a simple and convenient way to trial re-usable packaging when ordering their favourite burgers, sides and drinks.

“Consumer demand for more sustainable options is at an all-time high and the customer response to this exciting trial will be used to inform future plans for a long-term re-usable and returnable packaging scheme.”

Plastics phase-out

Last year, Burger King UK made a commitment to phase out all single-use plastic by 2025, replacing packaging with reusables and with recycled or certified plastic-free alternatives.

The commitment forms part of a new sustainability charter called ‘Burger King For Good’. The fast-food giant had already committed to removing single-use plastic ‘where possible’ and making all packaging recyclable at kerbside, but the new targets go one step further.

Burger King UK has already removed plastic straws from restaurants, replacing them with paper-based alternatives, and ditched plastic toys for kids’ meals. Items that will need to be tackled to meet the new 2025 targets include cup lids and condiment sachets.

To ensure that the new packaging formats bear minimal negative environmental impacts, Burger King will source all single-use packaging materials from sources certified as recycled or sustainably produced. It will also continue to explore reusable packaging, following trials with TerraCycle in Japan and the US.

Away from packaging, Burger King For Good outlines new pledges on food waste and animal welfare, which the business has described as key areas of focus in terms of sustainability.

On the firmer, Burger King is targeting a 30% reduction in food waste by 2025, against a 2019 baseline, and will measure waste across the value chain. It is adopting WRAP and IDG’s food waste roadmap to drive progress.

Comments (1)

  1. Lauren says:

    Name and Shame is a reasonably successful approach, and those who do the Naming are to be saluted.
    But in today’s world, most companies pour shame on themselves with no outside help.
    I love Burger King, but this story is a perfect example of CompaniesThatShameThemselves by their own PR announcements.
    It’s 2022. The need is urgent. This modest initiative was possible years ago. The Burger King media release needed to confess “Yes, we are five years late. But today we have done something useful”.

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