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The home-grown British technology is already in households across the UK, following Gousto’s use of Xampla edible film to wrap its stock cubes in November. If the material were used in all the company’s meal kits, 17 tonnes of single use plastic would be replaced annually.
Survey: 49% of UK adults make New Year’s resolution to use less plastic
In a survey commissioned by Xampla, 73% of consumers said they want more opportunity to buy food that is wrapped in alternatives to plastic this year.
However, only 14% say they are ‘definitely’ clear which alternatives are really sustainable.
Cambridge-based Xampla claimed it is making the world’s first plant protein alternative to plastic for commercial use. The corporation said that its mission is to “reduce plastic pollution”, and it will deploy its “natural polymer” replacement to plastic across the food and home cleaning products sector in the coming year.
With 10 million turkeys consumed each Christmas in the UK, this natural material could also replace the plastic wrappings around meat and vegetables, doing away with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unrecyclable plastic films.
Xampla chief executive Simon Hombersley said: “The sheer scale of plastic use this Christmas reminds us that consumers and brands alike need alternatives which can match the performance of plastic, without the harmful effects.
