M&S nano fears for recycled packaging

UK retailer Marks & Spencers famously launched its environmental programme with the tagline ‘Because there is no Plan B’, but despite reaching many of its targets ahead of schedule, concerns about nanotechnology could stop the firm using more recycled material in its food packaging.

M&S’s commercial and environmental packaging manager, Andrew Speck, is reported to have said at the Paper Recycling Europe conference earlier this month that food safety concerns could stop the company using more recycled content in its food packaging. Speck highlighted the use of nano-inks as a particular concern, saying that M&S has a policy ‘of not using engineered particles’. As use of these inks grows, he warned, they could pose a ‘significant threat’ to the use of recycled materials.