Recyclable cardboard bread tags will start being used on Nature's Fresh bread loaves from this Saturday.

Nature's Fresh is beginning to transition away from plastic tags – phasing in new recyclable cardboard bread tags one day a week from August 14, on all Nature's Fresh loaves from its Auckland Bakery.

The progressive rollout will then move through its network of bakeries across New Zealand, all initially one day a week, with the intention of moving to exclusive use of recyclable cardboard bread tags at every bakery and every day, within the next few months.

Kicking-off this initiative is a huge milestone for the brand, says Jesper Poulsen, Head of Baking Marketing at Goodman Fielder.

'We're extremely excited to be improving the environmental sustainability of our packaging,” Poulsen continues.

'Our research shows that Kiwi bread lovers are also supportive, with 76 per cent viewing the change to recyclable cardboard bread tags as a positive move*.”

As one of the country's most popular bread brands, Nature's Fresh has the opportunity to remove up to 15 million plastic bread tags from landfill each year.

Poulsen says the cardboard bread tags on Nature's Fresh loaves will be fully recyclable, and made from 100 per cent recycled content, but don't compromise on durability – in fact, they are considerably less prone to the dreaded ‘snapping' that can occur with plastic bread tags.

Due to their small size, the best way to ensure the new recyclable cardboard bread tags are properly processed by our NZ recycling system is to collect them in an envelope before depositing with general paper/cardboard recycling.

The switch from plastic to recyclable cardboard tags on Nature's Fresh loaves comes off the back of Goodman Fielder's recently launched corporate sustainability goals, which include other commitments like switching its fleet of 110 sales force vehicles to hybrid models by the end of 2022, reducing fuel consumption of the fleet by 41 per cent, and in July this year moved to 100 per cent renewable electricity at all of its Goodman Fielder operated Bakeries.

Nature's Fresh is also a proud supporter of the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme, which aims to come up with ways to turn soft plastics into useful products, such as fence posts.

Nature's Fresh trucks are currently used to collect the soft plastics collected by the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme from Christchurch before transporting it back to Auckland to be processed, to help solve the problem of getting soft plastics from the South Island to the processing facility in Auckland.

Duignan, Goodman Fielder NZ CEO, commented: 'Our products are the cornerstones of millions of Kiwi pantries, and we are committed to using that reach as a force for good. Commencing the rollout of recyclable cardboard bread tags on our Nature's Fresh loaves is an important milestone for Goodman Fielder, and is the start of our rollout across all brands which will see a total of over 100 million plastic tags annually removed from circulation.