The Co-op has adapted to changing work patterns and the rise of home deliveries to develop a new own-label kitchen roll made from 100% recycled material.
The new line is a blend of recycled materials made from 70% cardboard fibres – such as brown boxes used for home deliveries – while the remaining 30% is recycled fibres from sorted office waste.
Traditionally, recycled kitchen roll would have used more office waste, but the availability of such material has been in sharp decline since the Covid pandemic and the subsequent boom in home working.
As such, the retailer, working with its supplier Wepa, looked to use more recycled brown cardboard fibres, availability of which has soared since the pandemic.
The use of cardboard means the Honest Value kitchen roll has a pale beige colour rather than the more common white. The pack includes messaging to explain the different colour.
Co-op said the new line would save 230 tonnes of pure pulp, which is currently the most common material in the market used to manufacture kitchen towels.
It will be introduced to around 1,000 Co-op stores early in 2024. It will be 5% cheaper than the current Honest Value SKU and will retail at £1.85.
“This product directly supports a circular recycling economy, which we champion at Co-op, helping us to achieve our sustainability goals,” said Co-op technical manager Janet Lawrence. “The clever use of cardboard fibres, which are more abundant in UK post-pandemic, is such a great message.
“We understand customers might be confused by the beige colouring of the kitchen towel, when they are used to white, but we want to reassure shoppers that this product has the same absorbency and quality as the previous line.”
A Wepa spokesperson added: “We are delighted to be working with Co-op to bring this new innovation to so many shoppers. With listings in 1,000 stores, consumers across the country will soon be able to enjoy the same great absorbency and strength as their previous kitchen towel, whilst also using recycled materials.
“The current recycled market equates to only 1.3% of total UK sales. Pure pulp remains an essential part of the supply mix when sourced from FSC certified forests. However, using recycled cardboard fibres is a great way to utilise an increasingly abundant raw material that would otherwise be discarded at the end of its life.”
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