UK retailer Asda has announced that it has replaced plastic pots in its fresh herbs assortment with sustainable containers.
The plastic wrap around the herbs has also been swapped with paper sleeves, making the entire product plastic free.
The initiative will help the retailer in reducing around 45.6 tonnes of plastic from its operations, annually.
A 'Fantastic Innovation'
Asda's category planning manager for produce, Shamma Mohammed, said, "As a team, we’ve worked really hard with the supplier to come up with this fantastic innovation, which will help significantly reduce plastic on our fresh produce, without affecting the quality of the product.
"It’s really important to our customers and colleagues that we remove unnecessary plastic and this is just the latest in a number of initiatives across every part of the Asda business."
The new packaging has been extended to seven different herbs including rosemary, thyme, coriander, basil, mint, flat parsley, and curly parsley.
In the past 18 months, Asda has already removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic from its own-brand packaging.
Other Initiatives
The retailer has also announced plans to move its entire private-label, fresh ready meal range to fully recyclable packaging, starting 3 November.
Around 97 of Asda’s fresh ready meal lines will switch to the new ‘Evolve’ by Faerch trays, made from natural cPET – a form of detectable and recyclable plastic.
The retailer already offers more than half of its fresh ready meals in recyclable plastic or foil trays.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
