Following a trial in the North East of England, Sainsbury’s has rolled out its new recycling system to a total of 520 supermarkets allowing its customers to recycle all flexible plastic packaging which is not commonly accepted for kerbside collection.
The front of store recycling points aim to make it easier for shoppers to dispose of flexible plastic packaging. This includes packaging such as crisp packets, food pouches, salad bags, and biscuit and cake wrappers.
The retailer stated that the expanded initiative has the potential to significantly decrease the amount of plastic packaging going to landfill, with a report from WRAP estimating that flexible film contributed towards 290,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste in 2019.
The introduction of the new recycling system is part of wider moves by Sainsbury’s to reduce, reuse, replace and recycle plastic in its own operations while making it easier for customers to recycle.
Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re really excited to announce the mass rollout of the Flexible Plastics Recycling scheme in over 520 of our stores, helping our customers to recycle more of their plastic packaging, instead of it ending up as waste.
“Making recycling easier for our customers is a key part of our strategy to minimise the impact of single-use plastics on the environment, alongside our own ambitious target of reducing the use of plastics in our own operations by 50% by 2025.”
