Iceland believes that the government needs to create mandatory plastic reduction targets to ensure businesses make progress. The suggestion was made after the frozen food specialist launched another series of packaging trials that will see it heavily reduce its plastic usage across nine products.
The chain’s frozen vegetables and herbs including garlic, coriander, ginger and chilli will now be packaged in cartons, whilst its Soured Cream & Chive Dip and Sweet Chilli Houmous will come in paperboard pots.
Iceland’s frozen Chicken Dippers and Chicken Popsters are now packaged in ‘first to market’ paper laminate bags, whilst its Easy Peel Wild Red Shrimp are the latest product to be completely free from plastic with a coated paper bag replacing the old packaging.
The new packaging is being trialled in 115 Iceland stores across Cheshire, North Wales and the West Midlands.
Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland, said: “While we are very proud of the progress we have made so far, our journey to becoming plastic-free would be much easier if Government set more aggressive, mandatory plastic reduction targets as a framework for business to operate within.
“Once again, we would also call upon our fellow retailers to make more ambitious commitments to reducing their plastic footprint so we can find solutions that reduce the need to rely on plastic packaging together.”
Iceland has been one of the leading retailers in the fight against plastic, recently becoming the first major supermarket in the UK to fully publish its plastic footprint.
