English Provender lightens up

The company, which fills half a million jars a week at its 135,000 sq ft factory in Newbury, Berks, has redesigned the distinctive square glass jars it uses to pack sauces, condiments and Very Lazy ingredients, to weigh 12g less than the old format and use 7% less glass. Brand manager Rachel Chang says: "Last year, 2.48 million jars passed along our production lines, so this amounts to a substantial saving of materials. Environmental issues are increasingly important for both our trade customers and our consumers and we are pleased to be working towards a greener environment with this glass reduction." The jars are manufactured by Rotherham-based Beatson Clark, which specialises in the food, drink and pharmaceutical markets and has been working with English Provender for 13 years. Marketing manager Dawn Pugh said: "Not only is glass, because of its recyclable credentials, the preferred choice for consumers, but lightweighting reduces the use of both raw materials and transport costs to protect the environment and conserve valuable resources." The lighter weight jars will also sport a new look. Instead of the initials EPC stamped on the sides, the name English Provender is written out in full, to achieve better brand recognition. English Provender is now planning to make other sizes of its jars lighter. "We have started with our 200g size jars and we are looking to lightweight the larger 300g size in the coming year," added Chang. "We are also expanding into other pack formats which reduce weight, such as individual sachets of salad dressing in our singles range and top down squeezy rigid polymer plastic bottles."