Walkers is calling time on its crisp packet recycling scheme after less than four years.
The scheme, which the crisp giant kicked off in 2018 in partnership with TerraCycle, will end on 25 April this year.
In 2018 “there were very limited options for recycling crisp packets” said Walkers, arguing it was now “much simpler to recycle all your flexible plastics in one go” compared to when it started the scheme, thanks to the growth of flexible plastic collection points in supermarkets across the UK “taking not only crisp packets, but salad and bread bags and fruit and veg wrapping as well”.
Its scheme was “always meant to be a short-term solution until more comprehensive options became available”.
The scheme made headlines when it launched as environmental activists had been posting Walkers crisp packets back to the supplier in protest –sparking pleas from the Royal Mail to stop as the packs could not be sorted alongside normal mail items.
The news comes as Walkers-owner PepsiCo last month unveiled a mass of plans to boost the sustainability credentials of its crisps.
These included trialling a range of Walkers crisps packed in bags made from recycled materials such as crisp packets, biscuit wrappers and shopping bags, to debut later this year.
It plans to move all its crisps – Doritos as well as Walkers – into packaging that is easier to recycle in the next 12 months.
Last month Walkers mounted a multimillion-pound campaign playing up its position as ’Britain’s Most-Loved Crisps’ – and heralding its recovery from months of shortages spurred by a disastrous IT upgrade at PepsiCo.
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