Slashdot: The Pringles Tube Is Being Redesigned Because It's a 'Recycling Nightmare'

The Pringles Tube Is Being Redesigned Because It’s a ‘Recycling Nightmare’
Published on September 11, 2020 at 08:02PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The distinctive Pringles tube is being re-designed after criticism that it’s almost impossible to recycle. The current container for the potato-based snack was condemned as a recycler’s nightmare. It’s a complex construction with a metal base, plastic cap, metal tear-off lid, and foil-lined cardboard sleeve. The Recycling Association dubbed it the number one recycling villain — along with the Lucozade Sports bottle. Now Pringles’ maker Kellogg’s is trialling a simpler can — although experts say it’s not a full solution. The existing version is particularly troublesome because it combines so many different materials

Some 90% of the new can is paper. Around 10% is a polyal (plastic) barrier that seals the interior to protect the food against oxygen and moisture which would damage the taste. But how about the lid? Well, two options are on trial in some Tesco stores — a recyclable plastic lid and a recyclable paper lid. Kellogg’s says these lids will still produce the distinctive “pop” associated with the product. [Simon Ellin from the Recycling Association] said the polyal-coated card might be recyclable but the product would need to be tested in recycling mills. And what of the much-criticised Lucozade Sports bottle? Mr Ellin said its unchanged basic design was still a big problem, as machines found it hard to differentiate the plastic in the bottle and the plastic that makes up its outer sleeve. He called on the makers, Suntory, to reduce the size of the external sleeve, as it has with the new Ribena bottle.