Heinz, one of the world’s best-loved food brands, is rolling out an innovative 100% recyclable cap for its famous Heinz Tomato Ketchup squeezy bottles, meaning the whole bottle - including the cap - can now easily be recycled in regular kerbside collection, starting from next month.

The move means a potential 300 million plastic caps annually can be recycled, instead of finding their way into landfill.

Heinz spent years in intensive research, development and testing to create the first-of-its kind cap, made from a single type of material to make it fully compatible with kerbside recycling.

The old style Heinz cap used a flexible valve made from silicone which, while great for delivering just the right amount of ketchup, was typically a challenge to recycle. The new cap, made of a single, rigid material, is designed to be easily recycled while still providing the same perfect squeeze of the nation’s favourite sauce. 

Jojo de Noronha, President of Kraft Heinz Northern Europe, said: “We know our consumers care about their impact on the environment and so do we, which is why we’re delighted to see our innovative, more sustainable caps on Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles across the UK. Although a small change, this makes it easy for the millions of Heinz lovers across the country to recycle their whole squeezy bottle at once – a small action with big potential for impact.”

The introduction of the new cap is part of The Kraft Heinz Company’s larger ambition to make all of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, and to reduce its global use of virgin plastic by 20% by 2030.

Adam Herriott, Senior Sector Specialist at WRAP added: “We fully support this innovation from Heinz and welcome this packaging development. All products and packaging have an impact on the environment. Whilst prevention/elimination of packaging in the first instance would be the ideal scenario (and at the top of the hierarchy), packaging plays an important, practical and convenient role. Therefore, the next step is to look at ensuring as much of it is recyclable, reusable or compostable as possible. Through the UK Plastics Pact, our members have made some groundbreaking changes and introduced new innovations to ensure we are reusing, recycling, refilling and composting as much as possible. There is a lot of work still to be done to ensure we reach our targets and have circularity when it comes to this material.”

In addition to being fully recyclable, studies by Heinz revealed that another benefit of the new caps is that they make it easier to squeeze out sauce when the bottle is nearly empty – which will be music to the ears of (and sauce on the plates of) anyone who has ever found it tricky getting their favourite ketchup out of the bottle.

The new, more sustainable caps on Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles will be easy to spot: Simply look for the 100% recyclable message on the cap.

The caps are being rolled out next month UK-wide on 400ml and bigger top-down bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, including 50% Less Sugar and Salt varieties. In the future, the cap will also be rolled out across more of the Heinz sauces range in the U.K. and Europe.