Following a successful trial in 10 of its outlets last year UK supermarket Tesco has announced plans to tackle the thorny issue of plastic recycling. It has begun to introduce permanent in-store recycling points for soft and flexible plastics in 171 large stores across Wales and the South West of England.
It says that consumers will be able to recycle the type of plastics which are not usually collected by councils including crisp packets, pet food pouches and cling film
The supermarket hopes to become the UK’s largest in-store recycling network for soft plastics and to collect and recycle some 1,000 tonnes each year.
Tesco is partnering with a company called Recycling Technologies, who will wash, sort and recycle the plastic.
“It is an absolute priority to remove and reduce as much plastic as possible and ensure everything we use is recycled and kept out of the environment,” Tesco’s director of quality Sarah Bradbury said.
“Where plastic serves an important purpose such as reducing food waste, these new recycling points make sure that every piece can be easily recycled. Trials have shown they are popular with customers, so we believe rolling them out at scale will have a real impact.”
Tesco’s rival Sainsbury’s is also trialling an in-store take-back and recycling scheme for flexible and soft plastics at 63 shops in the North East of England.
