The potato chip maker Pringles has improved its packaging. Pringles is well known for its large, round, stacked crisps as well as for its cylindrical container. However, the container has been criticised for being bad for the environment. A lot of the criticism was because the tube was almost impossible to recycle. The BBC news agency said the container was "a recycler's nightmare". It might have looked simple but it was made up of multiple materials. It had a plastic cap, a metal base, an aluminium tear-off cover and a foil-lined cardboard tube. This all made it nearly impossible for people to separate and recycle the container. The Recycling Association called it one of the "villains" of the recycling world.
Chiefs at Pringles went back to the drawing board to make the packaging easier to recycle. They spent 12 months designing a new tube. This move was part of the company's promise to switch to 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by the year 2025. A company spokesman said: "We are eager to play our part and reduce our impact on the planet. And Pringles fans expect that of us too. So we've worked hard to come up with this new can, which is widely recyclable and keeps our chips fresh and tasty and protects them from breaking up – which helps to reduce food waste." However, the new design still has a plastic lid. The Recycling Association said this would just add to plastic pollution.
