Channel 4 shines a light on the environmental impact of the nation's obsession with Meal Deals and showcases a revolutionary plastic-free alternative.
For a new two-part documentary, Meal Deals: Behind the Bargain, produced by Manchester-based Purple Productions, TV presenter Joe Swash went behind the scenes at materials innovation company Xampla to see how they offer a solution to the 600 million plastic-coated sandwich packets that are discarded every year.
Traditional fossil-based coatings used on sandwich boxes often contain toxic plastics and PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”.
The former EastEnders star, who recently transformed the eating habits of families for C4’s Batch from Scratch, is now on a mission to make our lunch habits more sustainable.
Meal Deals: Behind the Bargain introduces the TV presenter to world-first Morro™ materials as the future of convenient, plastic-free packaging. With Brits consuming around 600 million pre-packed sandwiches annually, equivalent to over 1,100 every minute, the environmental implications are significant.[1]
Grounded in 15 years of plant protein research at the University of Cambridge, Xampla’s flagship product Morro™ Coating is a plastic-free and PFAS-free barrier coating, with no chemical modification.
While presenting Meal Deals: Behind the Bargain, Joe Swash remarked: “The plastic window is very important to supermarkets. If we can’t see, we won’t buy. These guys use similar techniques to make a film to replace the wrapping found on sachets and other types of packets. And because it’s made from plants it’s completely edible. So the future of the meal deals – when we’re looking forward – they could be completely plastic-free.”
Alexandra French, CEO at Xampla, said: "The inclusion of our Morro™ materials in Channel 4's documentary highlights the growing recognition that innovative, natural solutions are essential to addressing the global plastic crisis.
"Our technology, grounded in 15 years of Cambridge University research, delivers a genuine alternative to conventional plastics and harmful PFAS in food packaging.
“With over 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced globally each year, solutions such as our plastic-free, biodegradable Morro™ Coating demonstrate that a plastic-free future is not only possible but commercially viable today.”
Designed for food-to-go packaging, the breakthrough material protects paperboard from grease and water, while being fully biodegradable, home compostable and compatible with standard recycling streams.
Xampla's natural polymer materials were recently adopted by Lieferando, Just Eat Takeaway’s platform in Germany, and are available to their 41,000 restaurant partners. This launch demonstrates the technology's commercial viability and effectiveness in reducing single-use plastic in the takeaway sector.
The two-parter will uncover the secrets of the bestselling items, go behind the scenes with two leading supermarkets to discover how they choose new meal deal items and, having polled hundreds of people from across Britain, the show will reveal the Nation’s favourite meal deal main, snack and drink.
Meal Deals: Behind the Bargain is made by Manchester-based Purple Productions, part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media company. It was commissioned for 2 x 60 episodes for Channel 4 by Clemency Green, Senior Commissioning Editor for Lifestyle, and Jo Street, Head of Lifestyle. Its Executive Producers for Purple are Pam Cavannagh and Dympna Jackson and the series producer is Jo Haddock.
For more information: www.xampla.com/morro-materials
[1] Greencore, 2021: Fully-recyclable sandwich packaging to be trialled in UK supermarkets