Sainsbury’s has announced a new trial which involves the reduction of plastic packaging in fresh floral ranges.
The trial, which is a first for the UK, will continue for 12 weeks and run in 167 Sainsbury’s stores.
This launch will contribute to Sainsbury’s mission to reduce plastics by 50 per cent by 2025, across all Sainsbury’s food operations.
“This latest trial supports our broader goal of reducing, reusing, replacing and recycling more plastic,” said Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, Judith Batchelar.
The no-plastic plan
Plastic sleeves will be removed from more than one million fresh floral bunches and bouquets and replaced with recyclable paper. This will save over 10 tonnes of plastic. The sticky tape will also be replaced with recyclable paper tape.
“This initiative is very much a testing and learning activity for us, so we will be seeking feedback from our customers as well as getting a better understanding of how our supply chain manages the new packaging throughout.”
Future Sainsbury’s initiatives
In addition, Sainsbury’s is launching the following initiatives over the coming weeks:
- Removing plastic bags in bakery.
- Removing plastic bags from fresh produce departments.
- Removing all plastics from online grocery.
- Replacing hard-to-recycle black plastic with more easily recyclable material.
- Launching an exclusive partnership with Tefal to encourage the use of used kitchenware.