News

United Biscuits (UB) is to roll out a new retail-ready pack (RRP) for its McVitie’s biscuit range across Asda and Tesco stores in the next two months.

The two-piece pack, designed in-house, complies with the five ‘easys’ for RRP specified by retail industry association Efficient Consumer Response; that a pack is easy to identify, open, shelve, shop and dispose of.

The company has developed a closed-lock mechanism called the ‘slot-lock base’ for the bottom of the case. The base does not require any tape, so there is no plastic on the shelf to dispose of.

The primary packs within the case, rather than the secondary pack, are used to sell the product and the design is limited to the McVitie’s blue and one other colour.

When two cases are placed next to each other on shelf, the pack’s pillars, which have been kept as thin as possible, create a block of the McVitie’s blue to encourage brand recognition.

UB packaging innovations manager Rae Cherrie came up with the concept and worked with DS Smith in Livingston to develop the pack. The

company conducted several transit trials, over a period of six months, to discover how the case performed in the supply chain.

UB is working with suppliers to cut the weight of packaging by a further 20%.

• UB is aiming for zero landfill waste and a total packaging weight reduction of 20% by 2015. In a sustainability plan published last month, the firm also said it recycled more than 60% of non-food waste and aimed to increase this by 10% every year.