FAQS

Our usual practice is to supply end users through our network of distributors and wholesalers. Some of our distributors and customers arrange collection from our warehouse sites.

The recyclability information that we provide online and, in our catalogue, relates to UK OPRL recycling guidelines. The current threshold for plastic content within recyclable paperboard is 10%.

Information on sustainability guidelines for other countries is available for each of our products. For specific country information, please contact your account manager.

Unless otherwise stated, our recyclability credentials refer to the entire product. Where a window or a separable part (e.g., lid) should be removed, guidelines are given.

Our short shelf-life packaging is suitable for same day consumption. Our longer and extended shelf-life products help to preserve food contents for several days, depending on food contents.

To order samples to test our packaging with your food product, please contact our sales team.

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We offer specifically designed heat sealed packaging, with integrated lids across several of our product categories including sandwich packaging and chilled food-to-go.

We also offer options to film seal ranges such as microwave soup pots, Multi-Food Pots, Stagione^®, and bespoke packaging solutions.

We offer food packaging machinery and tooling to seal Colpac packaging. This includes our heat seal packaging range and our Modified Atmosphere Packaging (M.A.P.) range.

See our food packaging machinery range

Colpac products are designed with circular economy principles in mind. We predominantly rely on recycling to improve the circularity of our products. We constantly innovate as recycling guidelines and legislation evolve to increase recyclability.

With the right closed loop solution, compostable packaging can restore land and help to fuel the production of new materials used to make similar products.

Unrecyclable products are not circular. Even with circular economy principles in mind, we sometimes choose to make trade-offs to tackle other environmental issues. An example is preventing food waste which has a higher carbon impact than packaging. Our Modified Atmosphere Packaging is difficult to recycle, but extends food shelf-life by over 10 days.

‘Biodegradable’ means that the material will degrade over time, but it doesn’t tell you what it will degrade into or how long it will take. EN13432 certification confirms that the materials will biodegrade within a specific time frame and will not leave any toxic waste.

Compostable food packaging has many benefits. These include:

• It plays an important role in a circular economy
• It is a fantastic solution for closed-loop systems with high levels of food contamination (food contamination does not affect product compostability)
• Capturing food and packaging together helps to ensure that materials are circulated at their highest value
• It diverts food waste from landfill and prevents loss of important nutrients by capturing food waste in packaging
• Once fully broken down, compostable products can provide the earth with these valuable nutrients
• Composting food and packaging produces CO2, water and biomass that can improve soils

The criteria for the industrial compostability of packaging are set out in the European standard EN13432. This requires compostable plastics to disintegrate after twelve weeks and completely degrade after six months.

Our compostable food packaging can be composted with food or other green waste. When our products are collected for industrial composting, they are usually sent for anaerobic digestion or in vessel composting where the temperature and processes can be controlled and monitored.

Through these processes, compostable packaging breaks down with food waste into a nutrient rich substrate, digestate, or compost. This can is used to power biogas boilers, to enrichen compost, or to apply directly to land as compost.