Compostable packaging for the new Beavertown crisps to help with mental health

Beavertown, a British brewery based in Tottenham, is well-known across the country for its craft
beers. Alongside its beers, the brewery has this month partnered with the Campaign Against
Living Miserably (CALM) to launch a limited edition packet of crisps with a difference: cheddar
and jalapeño flavoured crisps aimed at starting conversations around mental health.

In a unique campaign, the brewery has enlisted the help of artisanal crisp brand SMUG to
develop the original flavour and manage the production process with their partners – crisp
manufacturer Yorkshire Crisp Company, and compostable packaging expert Parkside. Each
pack features mental health conversation starters printed on the inside of the laminate material,
designed to open up conversations around mental health. The ‘Open Up’ concept was developed
by PR agency Here Be Dragons.
Designed by CALM, these ice breakers are devised to kickstart deeper conversations amongst
friends: questions such as “What gets you through tough times?” and “If you could give your
younger self advice, what would it be?”. This stems from research conducted by CALM that
found more than half (56%) of people in the UK have pretended to be ‘okay’ to avoid talking
about their own mental health.
Adding further value to the concept, the packaging is a compostable solution sourced from
Parkside Flexibles’ Park2Nature™ range. The high-performance laminate includes high barrier
compostable cellulose film layers, NatureFlex™ films, sourced from Futamura. Not only does the
packaging provide the barrier performance required to protect the intense flavour and satisfying
crunch of the crisps, but it is also compostable in home and industrial settings.

The finished packs, with printed designs on the outside and the inside, are Seedling and OK
Compost accredited as compostable. It is also compliant to the EU standard EN13432 for
packaging recovery through biodegradation and composting.

The new Open Up crisps will be available at more than 260 pubs across the UK, including in
London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Participating sites will also give out free
packets of the crisps on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.