Pick Szeged: More Reduction in Packaging Material Use

Pick Szeged Plc. will reduce the amount of plastic used for packaging by another 14%, and from the end of January, after the sliced Pick salami, Herz hams will also be available in smaller tray sizes and in renewed packaging on the shelves, the food company belonging to the Bonafarm Group announced on Wednesday.

According to the statement, Pick Szeged Plc. has been reducing the amount of plastic used in its packaging since 2018. The annual use of plastic packaging material has been reduced by 60 tons in two years, thanks to the company reducing the thickness of the film used for sliced products by almost a quarter. By the first quarter of 2022, the tray size of most sliced Pick salami available in stores was also reduced by three centimeters, which reduced the amount of plastic used for packaging by a further 14%.

The statement quoted Bonafarm's director of operational quality management and product development, Adrienne Haluska, as saying that the weight of plastic packaging material used was reduced by 100 tons last year, compared to 60 tons previously, thanks to the optimization of tray sizes. Thanks to the smaller tray sizes, around 200 tons less paper was used annually for the bulk packaging of products.

In parallel with the reduction in the amount of plastic used, the amount of paper used for transport packaging has also been reduced, resulting in a further 26 tons of paper savings for Herz hams this year.

In recent years, Pick Szeged Plc. has made investments of around HUF 1.7 billion in its Szeged, Alsómocsolád and Baja sites to support its sustainability and automation efforts, with the most notable of these being the ham packaging improvements in Baja.

In addition to the reduction of plastic, the new ham slicing and packaging lines will also bring significant efficiency and quality improvements. On top of that, the Baja plant also has a camera-based quality control system.

The company's new salami factory in Szeged, which is currently under construction, will also focus on sustainability, with a solar panel system installed on the roof of the new unit, reducing the energy demand from the external electricity grid by 750 megawatt hours (MWh). And thanks to energy-efficient engineering, the building will be able to meet around half of its thermal energy needs from waste heat.