All of our tubs are now recyclable!

All of our tubs are now recyclable ♻️

Yes you, it's true.

Once you’ve scooped every last delicious mouthful of Anchor Spreadable from the tub, just give it a rinse, discard the parchment, and pop the tub and lid into your recycling bin.

Anchor’s 750g Spreadable is a little bit different to the other tubs in the Anchor family because we’ve given it a snuggly cardboard jacket to wear. But don’t worry - we’ve made a quick video to show you how to recycle it. It’s as simple as rinse, pull, and peel!

Just remember to rinse your nozzle!

Our cans of frothy cream are designed to keep our real cream nice and firm and, of course, squirty! The materials also help to keep our cream fresh for much longer, so you can indulge in the deliciousness whenever you like.

Every part of the cream can is fully recyclable, all you have to do is make sure it’s completely empty, give the nozzle a good old rinse, take off the lid and then put both the can and lid into the recycling bin. Just please don’t try to crush it or squash it!

Help us to make the world a butter place…

Recycling is super important to us. At the minute only around 45% of waste is recycled in the UK* and we want to change that. That’s why making our Anchor spreadables 100% recyclable is our top priority!

It’s also really important that you make sure things are as clean as they can be before putting them in the recycling bin. The cleaner your tub is, the easier it will be for the recycling fairies to magically turn it into something new. So always make sure you enjoy every last mouthful of your Anchor Spreadable before giving it a rinse and recycling it.

* source: UK Statistics on Waste statistical notice March 2020

Food is happiest in tummies. Not bins.

It’s no secret that we love food. But did you know that if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the US? Saving food from the bin is good for the environment, your wallet, and your tastebuds, so inspired by our friends at Love Food Hate Waste, we’ve come up with some tips for reducing food waste…

Keep your fridge temperature between 0°c and 5°c. That might sound a bit chilly but food goes off faster if it’s too warm.
Get creative with your leftovers. Here at Anchor, we’re not too bothered about following fancy recipes. All that matters is that your creations taste good and leave a smile on your face. So go crazy with your leftovers and see what you can make, from crafty curries to tremendous toasties! Check out our Food Ideas page for inspiration!
Did you know you can freeze our butter and spreadables? Plus, if you freeze butter in small squares then you can take out as much as you like, whenever you like. You can defrost it in the fridge or the microwave - use a defrost or low setting for 15 second intervals for the best results. If you give our tubs a good rinse you could also use them for storing leftovers in the freezer!
Take a #Shelfie. It’s a good idea to plan your meals and make a shopping list so that you don’t end up buying things that you’re not going to use. If you need inspiration, check out our Food Ideas and Food Hacks pages! But if you’re a busy bunny or just not a planning person, how about taking a Shelfie? Take a photo of your fridge and cupboard before you hit the shops and then if you can’t remember what you’ve got at home, you can easily check to avoid ending up with double of anything.
BEST before, but still pretty good after. You’ll notice that our products come with a best before date, not a use by date. That means that after that, you can judge using your senses – if it looks normal, smell it. If it smells normal, have a little nibble. If it tastes good, then you’re good to tuck in!

For more information visit https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

Our Packaging

Block butter wraps

What’s it made of?: Mixed material: it’s mostly made of paper, with a bit of aluminium and polyethylene to make sure the butter stays fresh.

Why are you using it?: We love our butter a lot, so we want to make sure that when it gets to your fridge, it’s just as fresh and delicious as it was when we made it. We’re still looking for a material that can look after our butter properly and be recycled easily, but the ones we’ve tried just didn’t protect it enough. The good news is, we have some very clever people working on it so it won’t be long until we crack it!

How do I recycle it?: Sadly you’ll have to put this one in the bin for now, but don’t worry – making it recyclable is our top priority!

250g and 400g tubs

What’s it made of?: Tub and lid: PP – polypropylene
Cover leaf: parchment

Why are you using it?: PP tubs keep our spreadables safe and smiling on their way to your fridge. The tubs are also 100% recyclable!
You might find your Anchor spreadable looks a bit more yellow in some places. This happens when it’s exposed to air during our production process, which is why we use a cover leaf to help to keep any air out. This is totally natural so don’t worry – it doesn’t affect the buttery betterness!

How do I recycle it?: Give the tub a scrape and a rinse, then put it into the recycling bin. Remember to remove the parchment and discard in the bin as sadly this isn't recyclable yet.

750g tub

What’s it made of?: Tub: rPET - recycled polyethylene terephthalate (Don’t worry, we can’t pronounce it either)
Sleeve: FSC card
Cover leaf: parchment
Lid: PP – polypropylene

Why are you using it?: Our rPET tub is great because it’s 100% recyclable, but it also contains at least 30% recycled content. Our other tubs are getting a bit jealous so we’re planning to treat them to some recycled content soon too. For more info check out our FAQs.

The card sleeve is FSC certified, which means it came from happy trees in responsibly managed forests.
You might find your Anchor spreadable looks a bit more yellow in some places. This happens when it’s exposed to air during our production process, which is why we use a cover leaf to help to keep any air out. This is totally natural so don’t worry – it doesn’t affect the buttery betterness!

How do I recycle it?: Give the tub and lid a scrape and a rinse, and scrape the cover leaf to make sure it’s all nice and clean. Next, pull the thumb tab to remove the bottom, and finally peel away the sides – check out the video we made at the top of this page for a step by step guide!

If your paper recycling is collected separately then stick the cover leaf and the sleeve you’ve peeled off in there, and the tub and lid can go in the plastic recycling.

Cream cans

What’s it made of?: Can: tinplate
Valve: steel plate
Nozzle: HDPE – high density polyethylene
Cap: PP – polypropylene
Label: LDPE – low density polyethylene

Why are you using it?: We use this can because it keeps our real cream nice and firm, and most importantly, squirty! It also helps to keep the cream fresher for longer, meaning deliciousness is only ever a fridge door away.
Plus, all the parts are fully recyclable.

How do I recycle it?: Make sure it’s totally empty, give the nozzle a rinse, then take off the lid and put both the can and lid into the recycling.
Please don’t try to crush it or squash it!

FAQs

What is recycled content?: Recycled content is material which has already lived another life as something else, and has been recycled and turned into something new. Here’s how it works…

When plastic gets to the recycling centre, it is carefully cleaned and sorted, and shredded into little bits called pellets. These are melted and turned into lovely things like butter tubs again. Not all recycling centres do it exactly like this but you get the picture.

Recycled content is great because it means we can use less fossil fuel and energy making new plastic, produce less waste, and release less carbon dioxide. If you want to learn more about recycling you can visit https://recyclenow.com/

What else is the Anchor 750g tub made of?: At least 30% of our 750g tub is made of rPET. This is a recyclable plastic which has already lived another life as something else, and has been recycled and turned into our tub.

4% is our cover leaf (the paper bit under the lid), which is made of parchment and can go in your paper recycling.

The sleeve of the tub makes up 36%, and it’s made of recyclable card which is FSC certified, meaning it came from happy trees in responsibly managed forests.

24% is the lid, which is made from PP, a fully recyclable plastic.

The last little bit of the tub is made of PET. This is a plastic which is totally recyclable, but has never been recycled before. If you put it in the recycling bin, it can be recycled and come back as rPET.

We’re really proud that our tubs are totally recyclable, and we’re planning to use even more recycled content in the future!

Why aren’t all of your Anchor tubs the same?: In the UK, different waste is collected for recycling in different places. This may change in the future but for now it means that there isn’t a huge supply of recycled PP available. Whether plastic can be recycled into one of our tubs also depends on things like what it was used for before, colour, laws, and how clean it is. And, recycling can affect the appearance, flexibility, and strength of plastic, so we have to do lots of testing to make sure that any new tubs will do a great job of looking after our Anchor spreadable.

Our 750g tub already had a card sleeve, whereas our other tubs are simply PP, so to make them the same as the 750g would be a big shake up and we’d have to change the machines in our Westbury dairy. That would use a lot of time and energy, which isn’t very good for the environment, so we’ve decided the right thing to do is to wait a little bit longer (but not too long!) until we can get a nice sustainable supply of rPP to put some recycled content in all of our other tubs.

New ways of washing and recycling plastics are being developed, so we’re hoping that soon there’ll be loads of recycled plastic available for everyone, but in the meantime we’ll carry on making the best choices where we can. We’ve set ourselves a target to get recycled content in to all of our tubs, so we should have some more good news to share soon!

What about block butter?: We love our butter a lot, so we want to make sure that when it gets to your fridge, it’s just as fresh and delicious as it was when we made it. We’re still looking for a material that can look after our block butter properly and be recycled easily, but the ones we’ve tried just didn’t protect it enough. We’re working hard to find a solution and we have a whole team of clever people working on it, so watch this space!

Where can I find out more about Anchor’s sustainability plans?: Anchor is a part of Arla, a farmer owned dairy cooperative made up of over 9400 farmers, and we are dedicated to sustainability, all the way from the farm to your fridge. You can find out more about our approach to sustainability on the Arla website: https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/sustainability/