BBF swiss roll
Cakes don’t have to come in plastics, the new BBF partnership with UK supermarkets proves. The British manufacturer pledged to remove more than 22 tons of unnecessary plastic from packaging annually and is committed to use plastic-free alternatives where possible.
As some are looking for a gift on Valentine’s day, or just want to indulge in desserts all year long, they shouldn’t be worrying about the impacts on the environment. However, they may need to think twice.
An EU factsheet shows that we produce 58 million tons of plastic every year. More than 60% of plastic waste comes from packaging and only 40% of that packaging is recycled.
Black plastic is particularly hard to recycle, so companies are now trying to avoid it. BBF, which produces 600 million cakes annually for retailers across the UK, Europe and Australia, also reduced the size of plastic windows in cartons and pushed collaboration with operators further. “Many of the UK’s major supermarkets have plastic reduction targets and we work collaboratively with them to achieve these,” says BBF CEO, Jonathan Lill. “Our entire operation has sustainability front of mind and for this very reason, we discuss packaging alternatives to plastic from the very initial product briefing stages with all of our retail partners.”
Since 2017, BBF has been working to achieve its zero waste to landfill commitment and training employees on reducing food waste. As part of BBF’s ongoing commitment to reducing its environmental footprint, the business joined WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme).
“We have made it easier for all of our staff to segregate food waste and surplus from general waste by investment in infrastructure, providing colour coded food waste and surplus bins that seamlessly fit into key locations at each of our bakeries,” says Lill. For the last 12 months now, and through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, BBF have been helping the charity Fareshare to distribute food among people in need.
“Our ultimate goal is to become completely plastic-free. While there is a long way to go in terms of innovation and technological advancement before this becomes a reality, it is one of our primary long-term objectives.”
