UK retailer Tesco has commenced the rollout of recycling points for soft plastic in 171 stores in the South West of England and Wales.
The retailer added that it would be the first time that the UK has had a network of collection points of this scale dedicated to soft plastic.
Most councils do not collect soft plastic from homes for recycling, and it therefore often goes to landfill.
Trial Run
The rollout follows a successful 10-store trial run, where customers responded positively, returning more than 10 times the expected amount of plastic.
The material has already been used to produce food-grade packaging for a selection of Tesco cheese, the retailer added.
Director of quality at Tesco, Sarah Bradbury, said, "It is an absolute priority to remove and reduce as much plastic as possible and ensure everything we use is recycled.
"Trials have shown they are popular with customers, so we believe rolling them out at scale will have a real impact.
Recycling
The collection points will allow customers to return all their previously unrecycled soft plastic, regardless of where they bought it.
It includes cling film, pet food pouches and crisp packets.
The retailer will recycle soft plastic collected through this initiative into packaging for food, household and beauty products.
'Environmental Crisis'
Paula Chin, WWF Sustainable Materials Specialist, commented, "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."
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
