Waitrose & Partners has announced that it has removed hard-to-recycle black plastic from its fresh meat, fish, poultry, fruit and vegetables packaging.
Head of CSR, health, and agriculture for Waitrose & Partners, Tor Harris, said, “While removing it we have also taken the opportunity to reduce the amount of plastic of any colour by removing trays from fruit and veg like apples, broccoli, and pak choi."
The move will cut more than 1,300 tonnes of black plastic annually, the company said.
A Significant Step
The new initiative is also a significant step for the retailer, as it has helped it in achieving more than half of its goal of removing black plastic from own-brand products by the end of this year.
“We are making progress all the time and are determined to maintain our momentum which is why we are now looking at ready meals and other products so we can achieve our aim of removing all black plastic from our own-label products by the end of 2019,” Harris added.
Most black plastic packaging is coloured using carbon pigments, which are not easily sorted by regular plastic recycling systems.
As a result, black plastic packaging ends up as residue, and are disposed of in landfills.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
