Asda has unveiled plans to remove single-use plastic bags for fruit and vegetables from stores, in favour of reusable alternatives made from recycled material, in the same week that Aldi confirmed a roll-out of cardboard meat trays. Should the trial prove successful, Asda will explore the possibility of offering the reusable bags in – and removing the single-use plastic bags from – more stores. It estimates that a roll-out could prevent the use of more than 3.5 million bags per year, collectively weighing in at more than 141 tonnes.
Asda’s director of produce Kevin Patel called the trial “a really exciting step” on Asda’s journey to reduce the amount of plastic it uses across its own-brand offerings by 15% by 2021, against a 2017 baseline. The supermarket’s wider plastics strategy is rooted in WRAP’s UK Plastics Pact, which sets four main minimum requirements on signatories against a 2025 deadline. It binds signatories to eliminating unnecessary single-use packaging through redesign; making all plastic packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable; achieving recycling and composting rates of 70% or more for packaging, and including 30% recycled content across all packaging.
In related news, Aldi has confirmed plans to roll out cardboard packaging across its entire steak range and to list products housed in the innovative new packaging format in all 890 of its UK stores. The new packaging consists of a cardboard tray and a thin, clear, flexible plastic film to hold the meat in place. While the film itself is not recyclable, the cardboard is collected by all UK local authorities and the entire package contains up to 90% less plastic than traditional formats. Aldi UK has calculated that the switch will reduce its plastic footprint by 1,100 tonnes annually. Trials of the new packaging, conducted in the second half of 2019, proved that it did not affect product shelf-life or quality and that consumers found it easy to use.
Source: Edie
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