USA - ConAgra Foods is incorporating post-consumer recycled plastic in its frozen meal trays in its bid to become more environmentally responsible in its role as brand owner in the packaging supply chain.

Using between 30-40% post-consumer recycled plastic in nearly all ofits frozen meal trays for its Healthy Choice, Banquet, Kid Cuisine andMarie Callender's product ranges, ConAgra Foods will effectively divertabout 8 million pounds of plastic (about 128 million 20-ounce plasticbottles) from landfills to the recycling stream annually.

In addition, it will save 236 million BTUs of energy, enough to run2,593 average American homes for one year, and reduce greenhouse gasemissions by 15,200 tons of CO2 annually - the same as taking nearly2,000 cars off the road each year.

Most frozen meals trays used by other companies are made ofcrystallized PET plastic, a material that uses only newly producedplastics and that requires more energy and resources to produce. Thisenvironmental action by ConAgra Foods will see the brand owner usingpost-consumer recycled plastic - packaging that has been used byconsumers that primarily is sent to landfills, such as plastic bottles.ConAgra Foods claims to be the only company in North America usingpost-consumer recycled plastic in frozen meal trays.

Partnering with Associated Packaging Technologies, ConAgra Foods willuse a new ultra-clean processing technology that cleans recycledplastic for use as a component in frozen meal trays, making it safe forconsumers to eat the prepared food directly from the trays, which havebeen approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as direct foodcontact materials. Older plastics technologies limited food companiesto using only new plastic to comply with regulations for direct foodcontact materials.

Gail Tavill, vice president of sustainability, ConAgra Foods, said,"Our commitment to innovation means we are looking at all aspects ofour products as we consider new ways to improve them, including findingways to be more environmentally responsible.

"As a packaged foods company, ConAgra Foods can make a positive impacton the environment by finding new ways to reduce waste, and our newfrozen meal trays with post-consumer recycled plastic will ensure thatthe equivalent of 128 million 20-ounce plastic bottles won't go tolandfills each year."

ConAgra Foods began the transition to the new trays in June 2008. Thecompany's frozen meal trays are now being produced using the moreenvironmentally friendly material and will appear on store shelves thissummer.