Sainsbury’s is launching a new trial which it claims makes it the first UK retailer to reduce plastic packaging in fresh floral ranges on a large scale.
The 12-week trial, which will run in 167 Sainsbury’s stores, marks another step towards achieving the company’s recent pledge to reduce plastics by 50% by 2025, across all Sainsbury’s food operations.
Plastic sleeves will be removed from more than one million fresh floral bunches and bouquets and replaced with recyclable paper packaging during the trial, saving over 10 tonnes of plastic. The sticky tape used to secure the wrapping will also be replaced with recyclable paper tape.
Sainsbury’s stated that it had worked with its suppliers to ensure that paper wrapping is introduced at the point of manufacture, rather than plastic wrapping being removed from the flowers and replaced with paper.
Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, said: “We are proud to be the first retailer to trial a large scale reduction of fresh floral plastics across 167 of our stores. Our customers have made it clear that they want us to reduce plastic packaging.
“This initiative is very much a testing and learning activity for us, so we will be seeking feedback from customers as well as getting a better understanding of how our supply chain manages the new packaging throughout.”
