Walkers, the nation’s most loved crisp brand1, has today announced a transformation of its Sunbites range with the rollout of new packaging made with recycled plastic2 and the entire range now classified as non-HFSS.
The new packaging is made with 50% recycled plastic which has been sourced using a mass balance approach. This means buying and using sufficient mass-balanced recycled plastic material to eliminate 200 tonnes3 of fossil-based plastic across Sunbites packaging by the end of 2025.
It is the latest in a series of packaging innovations from Walkers which has seen the brand recently launch new paper outer packaging for the entire Walkers Baked range and roll out a cardboard design for Walkers 20 bag multipacks. The launch forms part of PepsiCo Positive, to eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in crisp and snack bags by 2030.
Alongside its new packaging, the popular snack’s recipe has been reformulated and is now non-HFSS. Made with 100% wholegrains and natural flavourings, Sunbites retains the great taste people know and love but now contains less sugar in the chip and less salt in the seasoning.
Reducing salt and sugar
It took a team of experts based in our R&D centre in Leicester four trials over six months to find a way to reduce the sugar in a Sunbites chip by more than half. As sugar is a bigger contributor to the crunch than the taste, the team experimented with the proportions of the four wholegrains used to find the “sweet” spot.
Sunbites joins a line-up of Walkers non-HFSS favourites including 45% Less Salt, Baked, Doritos Dippers and PopWorks, building on our leadership in developing healthier, great tasting snacks for people across the UK.
Last year, Walkers set an ambition to make snacks that are non-HFSS or sold in portions of under 100 calories comprise 50% of its sales by 2025. Eighteen months later, Walkers is over halfway to reaching this goal – with 30% of the snack brand’s sales now made up of healthier snacks4.
"The Sunbites transformation marks our ongoing commitment to offering products that are better for both people and planet. We're proud of the progress we've made so far to reduce the fossil-based plastic we use and meet growing demand for healthier snacking options without sacrificing the taste."
GARETH CALLAN
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING LEAD, PEPSICO UK & IRELAND
As we work to meet these ambitious goals, it sees food-contact recycling technologies - such as chemical recycling - and the expansion of associated recycling infrastructure, as playing a critical role in developing capacity to meet growing demand, while supporting a circular economy for packaging used by the UK’s food manufacturing sector.
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[1] walkers.co.uk/mostloved
[2] Recycled plastic content has been allocated using the ISCC+ certified mass balance approach
[3] Based on UK 2023 annual sales volumes of Sunbites
[4] Not classified as high in fat, salt or sugar or from portions of 100 Calories or less per packet. This includes a small percentage of snacks that are exempt from the HFSS product placement restrictions that came in to force in October 2022 even though they may not meet the definition under the 2004/2005 Nutrition Profile Model.