This week, Swedish supermarket chain Coop—often called the most sustainable retailer—launched a new packaging for its ground beef. The old plastic trays will be replaced with "Mince on a roll." This change has benefits for customers, the retailer and the environment.
Now, customers will need to carry home less plastic and will get a mince with longer shelf life—16 days instead of just eight days in the old packaging. This change will contribute to overall food wastage reduction in supermarkets and homes.
A new smart roller shape design allows the chain to optimize shelf space in meat counters, cut packaging materials expenditures by 82%, and improve the efficiency of transportation, thus reducing transport emissions impact by 31%.
The new design will be used for Coop's 500g packs of minced beef, but the retailer plans to expand the concept to mixed and pork range in the future.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Reduced Plastic Packaging
- The success of Coop's Mince on a roll package demonstrates significant demand for products with sustainable packaging and provides an opportunity for other retailers to explore and market their own reduced plastic packaging options.
- Efficient Shelf Space Design
- Coop's new smart roller shape design points to a trend in innovative shelf space design that can improve store efficiency and cut packaging material expenditures for retailers.
- Extended Shelf Life Improvement
- The extension of the shelf life of Coop's ground beef mince due to new packaging provides an opportunity for other food products with shorter shelf life to investigate improved packaging options that will lead to longer shelf life of their products.
Where This Applies
- Supermarkets
- Coop's innovative packaging design demonstrates a sustainable and efficient direction for any supermarket to consider in order to reduce plastics use, optimize shelf space, and improve supply chain efficiency.
- Food Packaging
- The success of Coop's sustainable packaging provides the impetus for food packaging manufacturers to investigate and market innovative design options that reduce material expenditures, extend shelf life, and lower transport emissions.
- Meat Industry
- Coop's packaging design success signals a new wave for meat retailers to explore more sustainable packaging options, optimizing shelf space, transport, and reducing packaging material expenditures while significantly improving the shelf life of their products.
