News UK completes removal of plastic from wraps with new recyclable paper banding

News UK said it will introduce this weekend a recyclable paper band to wrap Sunday Times magazines in parts of South East of England. The Saturday Times magazine will use the paper bands next weekend.

The band will replace the existing inner plastic polybagging as part of the publisher’s plastics pledge to remove all single-use plastic used to wrap its titles and inner magazines.

With the new paper banding being phased into the titles across all regions of the UK and Ireland by mid October, News UK will achieve the complete removal of plastic from wrapping, removing 800 tonnes of plastic.

The Times and The Sunday Times removed all single-use plastic outer polybagging in June 2019, using compostable alternatives made from potato starch.

The Sun TV Mag removed its inner plastic polybagging across the UK and Irish editions in October 2019 and The Sun on Sunday phased out single-use plastic by the end of December 2019.

“Retailers and readers have responded overwhelmingly positively to our plastics pledge and this latest paper band innovation is an industry-leading effort,” commented Neil Spencer, retail director at News UK.

“Our suppliers have put plastics at the centre of their sustainability drive, building on their work reducing emissions through efficiency drives and sourcing 100% of paper from sustainable forest management systems. The insert process after this move remains unchanged for retailers.”

Retailers can give feedback on the new paper banding by emailing growsales@news.co.uk.