Tesco has announced that it has removed more than two billion pieces of plastic from its United Kingdom business since the launch of its 4Rs packaging strategy in 2019, Remove, Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle.
In the last 12 months, 500 million pieces of unnecessary plastic have been identified and removed. The most recent annual savings include over 30 million plastic yoghurt lids removed and more than 29 million pieces of plastics removed from limescale tablets packaging, close to 24 million plastic windows removed from doughnut packaging and a further nine million pieces removed from nappy packaging.
Tesco Responsible Sourcing Director Kené Umeasiegbu shared that all shared the responsibility to take care of the planet.
"Removing unnecessary plastic is an important way that Tesco can reduce its environmental impact. As well as taking action in our operations, we want to work with the whole industry to continue to build on the progress we've made to Remove, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle more."
Based on learnings from the progress its made so far, Tesco has published a major new strategic report detailing efforts needed by retailers, industry, and government to help transform the United Kingdom's approach to packaging.
Ideas ranged from creating a level playing field to remove packaging in produce, supporting government efforts to introduce consistent kerbside recycling, ensuring a deposit return scheme is viable and sustainable, and creating an industry-wide movement on reusable packaging solutions.
Since the introduction of the 4Rs packaging strategy, Tesco has removed more than 200 million bags from deliveries, over 67 million tinned multipacks are no longer plastic-wrapped, 50 million pieces of plastic have been removed from branded beers and ciders, 42 million plastic forks from prepared salads and rice bowls, and 14.2 million pieces of plastic were saved by removing plastic chicken trays from whole chickens.
The 4Rs strategy has seen a business-wide programme of change that assesses every piece of packaging and removes all unnecessary and non-recyclable material. Tesco initiated action by giving suppliers a list of preferred materials that are easier to recycle. It stated that it reserves the right to no longer stock products in excessive packaging or hard-to-recycle materials.
The retailer then supported its suppliers to develop more sustainable packaging solutions.
