Pot Noodle is making a huge change to its packaging as part of a new trial with supermarket chain Tesco.
The instant snack brand is switching to a new 90% paper pot design, made with FSC certified paper.
A single layer of ultra-thin plastic film is used to provide barrier protection, so the pot doesn’t collapse - but parent company Unilever says this doesn’t affect your ability to recycle the pot.
The new pots can be recycled at home with other cardboard and paper packaging.
An initial 500,000 Chicken and Mushroom flavour Pot Noodles will feature the new design at Tesco as part of the trial.
Unilever said its packaging and manufacturing teams have been developing and refining the paper pot for over three years.
It comes as part of wider plans to reduce plastic waste.
If successful, Pot Noodle could move its full range to paper pots - removing 4,000 tonnes of plastic each year.
Andre Burger, general foods manager (nutrition) at Unilever UK and Ireland said: “Pot Noodle has been a loved British brand for over 40 years, and whilst our great taste will never change, we’re always challenging ourselves to make our products and packaging better.
“From material development and testing through to new manufacturing processes and capabilities, big packaging innovations require the investment of time and expertise across many teams and partners.
“There have been plenty of challenges along the way, but we are committed to reducing the plastic in our packaging and to a paper-based future for our pots, without compromising on the Pot Noodle experience our shoppers know and love.
“We are now excited to learn from this initial trial with the ambition of bringing our paper pots to more shoppers across the UK soon.”
Courtney Pallett, packaging campaigns manager at Tesco, said : “Removing or reducing plastic wherever we can remains a key focus for us.
“We’re excited to work with Unilever to exclusively trial Pot Noodle’s new sustainably sourced, FSC certified paper packaging and to continue to work together to help protect our planet.”
Supermarkets are all making changes in store to help reduce their plastic waste - but not all have been popular with customers.
Sainsbury's was hit with backlash from customers after it started vacuum packing its own-brand mince meat.
Some customers complained the new packaging made the meat “mushy” or resembled “someone’s kidney”.
Even with this backlash, the supermarket chain has stood by the move saying that it was "always looking for new ways to innovate packaging" to meet its "ambitious plastic reduction targets".
