Tesco is continuing its drive to tackle plastic waste with the introduction of soft plastic recycling points where customers can dispose of old packaging such as bread bags, pet food pouches, and crisp packets.
The recycling points are initially rolling out to 171 stores in the South West of England and Wales with plans to extend the scheme to all of Tesco’s large outlets nationwide.
The move follows a successful trial in 10 shops with the supermarket claiming it will be the first time that the UK has had a network of collection points of this size dedicated to soft plastic.
Councils don’t currently collect soft plastic from homes for recycling, with it mostly going to landfill.
Tesco expects to collect and recycle 1,000 tonnes of plastic a year through the scheme. It will be turned into new packaging for food, household and beauty products.
In recent years, the retailer has been addressing the impact of plastic waste through its 4Rs strategy – Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Tesco recently announced it had hit its 2020 target to remove a billion pieces of plastic from its own label products, whilst also urging branded suppliers to take similar action or potentially face being delisted.
“It is an absolute priority to remove and reduce as much plastic as possible and ensure everything we use is recycled and kept out of the environment,” said Tesco’s Director of Quality, Sarah Bradbury.
“Where plastic serves an important purpose such as reducing food waste, these new recycling points make sure that every piece can be easily recycled. Trials have shown they are popular with customers, so we believe rolling them out at scale will have a real impact.”
The move was welcomed by environmental charity WWF, whose sustainable materials specialist Paula Chin said: “Plastic pollution is one of the most visible symptoms of the environmental crisis and is devastating our natural world.
“Businesses, governments and households have all got an important part to play in tackling the issue, so it’s encouraging to see Tesco extending their successful soft plastics collection trial across more of their stores, giving their customers even more opportunity to recycle these valuable materials.”
