PASTA-LA-VISTA PLASTIC PACKAGING

EMBARGOED UNTIL APRIL 1ST 2024

A packaging manufacturer from Leeds claims spaghetti will quickly replace plastic as the packaging material of choice after a breakthrough by its in-house research and development team. 

LVF Packaging says its newly developed SpagForm™ has the strength and shelf-life of comparable plastic packs but has the added advantage that once used it can be dropped into a pan of boiling water, cooked and eaten. 

Formed in 1987 to produce plastic inserts for Waddington’s board games, the company moved into retail packaging shortly afterwards and has been manufacturing plastic food, drink and cosmetic packaging ever since. Bosses at the company have though been worried about the long-term future of plastic ever since David Attenborough revealed the extent of plastic pollution back in 2017. 

Daniel Coates, business development director, said: “From the moment Blue Planet II first aired we knew the clock was ticking on plastic. It really has been a race to come up with an alternative material that not only works but is commercially viable.”

“Paper, cardboard and hybrid packs have been explored, but without any real breakthrough, while a lot has been spent by companies looking to grow crops to produce packaging material from: but is there really any sense in replacing crops for food with crops for packaging?” 

Amazingly, LVF’s pasta breakthrough came last April Fool’s Day when Daniel was showing his children BBC Panorama’s famous spaghetti harvest April Fool spoof from 1957. 

“The kids watched the report for about five seconds, looked at me, shook their heads and walked out of the room in disgust,” explained Daniel. “I though was hooked and watched it over and over again, thinking all the time could it be possible? The next morning, I bought all the spaghetti in my local Morrisons and we started to play around with it straight away.”

The breakthrough was extremely quick in coming – the spaghetti is simply boiled, formed into shape while still pliable and then baked at extremely high temperatures for two hours to deliver the required strength. It has though taken LVF Packaging a long period of time to get its SpagForm™ taken seriously by customers and approved by the various industry regulators. 

“We’ve been greeted with incredulity every time we’ve introduced the concept,” continued Daniel. “But once we’d demonstrated that it really does work (and served it for lunch afterwards) then people are extremely quick to get on-board.”

LVF Packaging’s SpagForm™ is officially licensed for use after 11.59pm on March 31st, 2023 and is due to replace plastic packaging on the shelves of all major supermarkets before noon on April 1st.