Verpact and Jumbo Supermarkt have incorporated 30% recycled plastic into the retailer’s 3L frying oil bottles, with every kilogram of plastic recycled expected to reduce CO2 emissions by two and a half kilograms.
Last summer, Verpact joined forces with various brand owners to publish its Delta Plan for Circular Plastic Packaging – aiming to tackle issues like the absence of reliable and food-safe recyclate streams, subsequent uncertainties about recyclate quality, insufficient connections between supply chain partners, and cheap imports from overseas.
Under the Delta Plan, Verpact’s Circular Plastic Bank aspires to bring together supply and demand to find common solutions for chain partners. Linked to various product lines and other companies, the plan is designed to help the Circular Plastic Bank serve the entire market and meet Europe’s recycled plastic content requirements for 2030.
The discount associated with tariff differentiation is set to encourage the use of recycled plastic, with innovation programmes expected to build further knowledge.
“We started pioneering, connecting, and matchmaking last year, and now we can present our first match with a major retailer,” comments Verpact CEO Hester Klein Lankhorst. “The Delta Plan shows what’s possible when supply chain partners are willing to collaborate and remove obstacles.
“The transition to a circular economy is no longer solely a matter of environmental policy; it’s increasingly a strategic raw materials policy. The Delta Plan provides us with a great driving force: if you want to get things moving, you have to take the initiative yourself.
“With the Delta Plan, the sector is contributing to a solution, but it can’t do it alone and without supporting policy. For example, recyclers need a stable long-term investment policy.”
In this case, Verpact linked Jumbo’s market demand to the technical capabilities and recyclate quality offered by Oiltrade. Together, the companies were able to incorporate 30% recycled plastic into the existing bottles without altering the design or quality.
Oiltrade is responsible for filling the bottles, which are then marketed by Jumbo. Apparently, every kilogram of plastic packaging recycled results in a CO2 reduction of two and a half kilograms.
“We’re increasingly opting for packaging that’s easier to recycle,” continues Marjolein Verkerk, head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Jumbo Supermarkt. “With our ambition to use more recycled plastic in frying oil bottles, we repeatedly ran into a familiar problem: how to ensure a stable, food-safe, and qualitatively consistent stream of recycled PET plastic (rPET).
“Due to the large volume – the 3-liter bottle is a top seller in our product range – this change immediately delivers significant environmental benefits. It also helps us help customers make a more sustainable choice.”
“As a producer of frying oil and various packaging materials, we can play a key role in accelerating circularity,” adds Marc van Arendonk, commercial manager at Oiltrade. “This collaboration demonstrates that sustainability and scalability go hand in hand. The Delta Plan provides a framework in which ambitions are translated into concrete reality.”
The first bottles have already been manufactured and are reportedly on their way to Jumbo Supermarkt stores.
In similar news, Bertolli has launched a 100% rPET bottle for its olive oil. By 2030, the company aims to reduce the environmental impact and carbon emissions of its packaging and encourage its suppliers to reduce their environmental impact.
PepsiCo also claims to have boosted its recycled plastic usage by 15% in its 2024 ESG Summary. This contributes to the brand’s goals of achieving 40% recycled content for its primary plastic packaging by 2035 or sooner, and a 2% average annual reduction in year-over-year absolute tonnage of virgin plastic by 2030.
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