Iceland unveils plastic-free range of Christmas food

Iceland has launched its “plastic-free Christmas range”, consisting of 18 products using only alternative packaging.

The new lines arrived in store this week after the frozen food specialist first revealed it was developing the range in September.

Luxury Beef Wellington, Mini Pies and Salted Caramel Cheesecake are included in a range intended to allow customers to pick a starter, main course and dessert.

A further eight products, such as Three Bird Roast and Stuffed Turkey Breast Joint, have had their packaging redesigned to reduce plastic.

Range preview: Iceland Christmas 2019

Across the two ranges, plastic packaging has been cut by 97% compared to previous years, according to Iceland.

“We’ve been working hard all year to develop alternative packaging solutions and I’m proud to be offering Iceland customers the choice of plastic-free Christmas products,” said Iceland MD Richard Walker.

“Christmas is a crucial time of year which sees retailers go head to head on product innovation, and we were keen to incorporate our sustainability efforts into this.

“We know that there is a significant appetite for reduced plastic packaging and that plastic consumption increases significantly at Christmas, so we were keen to take on the challenge and demonstrate to the industry and our consumers that it’s possible to have a sustainable Christmas.

“The development of the new range has involved exploring and testing hundreds of alternatives, before developing a series of new-to-market solutions which have either significantly reduced, or entirely removed, plastic from the packaging of our new Christmas range.”

Iceland’s plastic-free Christmas plans won ‘Best own-label retailer initiative’ at The Grocer’s Best of Own-Label Awards earlier this month.

Here are the full ranges: