SAINSBURY'S
UK retailer rolls out scheme for customers to recycle flexible packaging waste
 The recycling system is available at 520 of 600 Sainsbury’s supermarkets (Photo: Sainsbury’s) |
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s (London; www.sainsburys.co.uk) has rolled out a new recycling system at 520 of its 600 supermarkets, allowing customers to recycle all flexible plastic packaging.
The roll-out follows a successful trial at one of the stores in the north-east of England and should boost the amount of flexible packaging waste collected for recycling. Currently less than a fifth (17%) of UK local councils run kerbside collections for the material. The scheme will enable items such as crisp packets, food pouches, salad bags, biscuit and cake wrappers to be reclaimed.
In May 2021, Sainsbury’s joined the Flexible Plastic Fund, a GBP 1m (EUR 1.2m) scheme, which aims to make the recovery of flexible packaging easier for consumers and economically viable for recyclers (See Plasteurope.com 07.06.2021).
Claire Hughes, the chain’s director of product and innovation said, “Making recycling easier for our customers is a key part of our strategy to minimise the impact of single-use plastics on the environment, alongside our own ambitious target of reducing the use of plastics in our own operations by 50%, by 2025.”
A report released earlier this year by Greenpeace (Amsterdam / The Netherlands; www.greenpeace.org) and Environment Investigation Agency (EIA, London; www.eia-international.org) said leading UK supermarket chains produced nearly 897,000 t of plastic packaging in 2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 01.02.2021).
The roll-out follows a successful trial at one of the stores in the north-east of England and should boost the amount of flexible packaging waste collected for recycling. Currently less than a fifth (17%) of UK local councils run kerbside collections for the material. The scheme will enable items such as crisp packets, food pouches, salad bags, biscuit and cake wrappers to be reclaimed.
In May 2021, Sainsbury’s joined the Flexible Plastic Fund, a GBP 1m (EUR 1.2m) scheme, which aims to make the recovery of flexible packaging easier for consumers and economically viable for recyclers (See Plasteurope.com 07.06.2021).
Claire Hughes, the chain’s director of product and innovation said, “Making recycling easier for our customers is a key part of our strategy to minimise the impact of single-use plastics on the environment, alongside our own ambitious target of reducing the use of plastics in our own operations by 50%, by 2025.”
A report released earlier this year by Greenpeace (Amsterdam / The Netherlands; www.greenpeace.org) and Environment Investigation Agency (EIA, London; www.eia-international.org) said leading UK supermarket chains produced nearly 897,000 t of plastic packaging in 2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 01.02.2021).
29.06.2021 Plasteurope.com [247982-0]
Published on 29.06.2021