Sustainable changes made to Jacob’s Cream Crackers packaging

Making sustainable changes to its packaging, Jacob’s Cream Crackers creators pladis UK&I has been working with DS Smith to develop a new design that reportedly featured 78 percent less plastic per pack.

According to pladis UK&I, the new packaging still incorporates “high quality print to the same standard as the previous solution” and the update can already be seen on supermarket shelves.

DS Smith is a global manufacturer of fibre-based sustainable packaging solutions and supported the global snacking company with its sustainability driven adaptations.

The European Commission has shared that plastic packaging reached a total of 16.1 million tonnes in 2024, with other reports finding that, in the UK alone, 40 percent of all plastic waste comes from packaging.

Now, pladis has revealed that it has witnessed plastic reduction “increasingly becoming front of mind for retailers and demanded by consumers”, pladis UK&I  approached DS Smith about creating new packaging for the iconic Jacob’s Crackers Selection pack, which minimised the amount of plastic waste in the shell of the packaging, while retaining the tamper proof seal.

Following a testing period carried out by DS Smith designers, the finished product is said to have been able to save over 373,248kg of CO2 so far.

 “Now more than ever, consumers are concerned about the amount of plastic in their packaging,” Paul Bridge at DS Smith.

“We were delighted to work with pladis on new packaging for their iconic Jacob’s Cream Crackers. The challenge with attempting to cut plastic out of packaging often means it can compromise the design. By applying our unique Circular Design Metrics, we came up with a solution that ensured that we ended up with a finished product that had 78 percent less plastic, while retaining the same high-quality print as the previous packaging.

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“The new design is already on-shelf, and we’ve taken the learnings from the project to see how we can apply them to future solutions we work on.”

Meanwhile, David Guy, Packaging Director at pladis UK&I shared: “Redesigning our packaging was a big moment for us, especially as Jacob’s is such an iconic brand which customers know and love.

“We were delighted to work with DS Smith, and they really hit our brief, finding a solution which worked with our current manufacturing set up without compromising on branding,” concluded Guy.