Popcorn Shed | AmLite Recyclable doubles the shelf-life of popcorn

The Popcorn Shed Growth Story

Popcorn Shed is an independent London-based premium popcorn maker that prides itself on great tasting products, high-quality ingredients, beautiful packaging and excellent customer service. The company, which began with cousins Sam Feller and Laura Jackson making popcorn in their garden shed, has enjoyed rapid growth since launching in 2016.

The company was the first to put popcorn in an outer carton (using bag-in-box), which makes the product highly shareable and perfect for gifting purposes. Its packaging and the high quality of ingredients used in its popcorn is instrumental in setting the brand apart in a busy market.

Consumers Expect Convenience

Popcorn is far more susceptible to moisture and oxygen than most other snacking foods. In as little as a few hours after opening a pack there is a noticeable loss of freshness as the product loses its crunch and becomes soggy. This is why Popcorn Shed houses its popcorn within plastic pouches that sit inside ‘sheds’ of cardboard packaging.

Popcorn Shed had previously been protecting its popcorn with a laminated barrier film. This PET AlOx / LDPE clear packaging is mainly used for ready meals and frozen food due to its reliable and strong barrier properties. However, the material wasn’t conducive to easy-opening, which resulted in Popcorn Shed receiving several customer complaints.

As Sam explains: “We were receiving lots of complaints that customers couldn't open the bags without a pair of scissors, or it spilled on opening. So, while it provided a good barrier, it didn’t quite have the properties we needed to meet our customers’ expectations of a luxury brand.”

Additionally, its previously PET structure meant that the liner bag was non-recyclable. While PET bottles are recyclable, there is currently no recycling stream for PET-based bags and pouches. The new mono-OPP/PP pouch uses Amcor's AmLite metal-free high barrier coating, and fits recycling streams available in several European countries. With sustainability becoming a growing issue for consumers this increased recyclability ultimately helps them too.

The Sustainable Solution

Popcorn Shed required a packaging material that would keep its premium popcorn fresh, was easy for consumers to open, and easy for them to recycle in some European countries. Amcor’s AmLite Recyclable packaging delivered on all 3 requirements and the packaging can be recycled in front-of-store crisp packet recycling systems and is suitable for polypropylene recycling where the facilities exist (i.e. Germany).

AmLite Recyclable is a unique line of metal-free, high barrier packaging that enables brands to create attractively designed packaging while also keeping their product fresh. The packaging utilizes Amcor’s extensive experience in high barrier coating and conversion, ensuring a lightweight material that offers excellent product protection, is easy to open and can be customized with a highly visible design.

The new packaging offers the same high-barrier properties as conventional metallized orientated polypropylene (OPP). However, being metal-free, it has the benefit of transparency, which enables consumers to see the product inside the packaging, a requirement for Popcorn Shed.

The combination of an OPP structure and AmLite’s metal-free barrier has an impact on the recyclability of packaging. Metallisation can interfere with Infra-Red material detection systems at recycling sites, but AmLite Recyclable can be easily detected and machine sorted for recycling.

Additionally, the move to AmLite Recyclable from the previous pouch has provided substantial reductions in carbon footprint, water consumption and non-renewable primary energy demand. The new packaging’s carbon footprint is 58%1 lower, meaning that this solution is more sustainable than the previous packaging.

From Garden Shed to Worldwide Distribution, Thanks to Extended Shelf-Life

Thanks to its high performing barrier, Amcor’s AmLite Recyclable packaging has doubled the shelf-life of Popcorn Shed’s premium popcorn. This has had a significant impact on the brand’s export and ecommerce opportunities, with global export now accounting for 25% of the brand’s turnover.

As Sam explains: “Since we implemented Amcor’s packaging our shelf-life into trade has gone from six months to 12 months, which is hugely important for the export market. When we’re sending products to Japan and Australia customers demand a 12-month minimum shelf-life as the products sit on a boat for three months before they reach the destination.

“Other producers will gas flush the popcorn to keep food fresh for longer and achieve that shelf-life, but we don’t need to do that. Now, Amcor’s packaging ensures that popcorn that has been in the bag for 12 months is still as fresh as the day it was first made. We’re delighted with the results and will continue to use the bags moving forwards.”

Popcorn Shed’s packs are now simple to open, guarantee a fresh taste, and consumers are able to see the product inside the pack. Amcor’s solution also enables Popcorn Shed to print its brand on the bag, which further improves the appeal of the packaging.

As Sam adds: “Amcor’s AmLite Recyclable is a fantastic product for our application. It opens like a crisp packet, so it is very easy to use as a consumer, and its barrier properties are excellent.”

These elements have helped Popcorn Shed position itself as a high-quality, premium gifting product to consumers all over the world.

The packaging was a finalist at the 2019 UK Packaging Awards for Flexible Pack of the Year.

About AmLite Recyclable

AmLite Recyclable offers high barrier, metal-free packaging that is recyclable in markets where these streams exist. By utilizing Amcor’s significant experience in barrier coating and conversion, AmLite ensures a lightweight material that offers excellent product protection, that is easy to open, and can be customized with a highly visible design.

About Popcorn Shed

www.popcornshed.com

Popcorn Shed is the UK’s first premium gourmet popcorn brand, while competitors apply spray-on and powder coatings in an industrial process, Popcorn Shed uses an artisan cooking process with each production run.

Operating out of a garden shed since 2016, Popcorn Shed is a home-grown, family-owned business and a Made in Britain artisanal brand. They are also the first UK popcorn brand to be packaged in ‘shed’ cartons, each with its own personality and theme.

1: Comparison based on cradle to grave analysis of PET12 / PE40 with incineration with energy recovery, compared to OPP30 / OPP18 AmLite being recycled