McVities’ biscuits owner Pladis has said it will eliminate non-recyclable black plastic from its products in the UK and Ireland by June.

The London-based company, the international snacks arm of Turkey’s Yildiz Holding, said the move is part of a package of measures to support its sustainability targets.

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Other new initiatives, which come just over two years since Pladis commited to the UK Plastics Pact, include the elimination of all PVDC film by June 2021, a continued commitment to prioritising the development of sustainable packaging solutions across best-selling lines, and reducing CO2 emissions from transportation.

Sylvain Cuperlier, head of sustainability at Pladis, said: “As part of our commitment to the UK Plastics Pact, we’ve been working hard to transition our rigid plastic trays from black to recyclable cloudy rPET, which contain a minimum of 30% recycled content.

“We’re pleased to announce that the last black trays were produced in late December and we will complete this transition by the summer, after which there will be no more Pladis-produced black plastic in the market. This will save 80 million plastic trays from landfill every year.”

Pladis has also increased the amount of recycle-ready monopolymer film used across the business – it now represents 64% of all packaging film – and removed 35% of PVDC film, cited by the UK Plastics Pact as a “problematic plastic”.

As part of its drive to prioritise sustainable packaging, Pladis has overhauled the packaging for many of its best-selling lines.

"Shoppers will have noticed the changes we've been making as they purchased their favourite festive biscuits in the lead up to Christmas," said Cuperlier.

"Last year, we made some important adjustments to our best selling McVitie's Victoria assortment, including downsizing the card outer and incorporating a fully-recyclable cloudy plastic tray."