UK | Customers picking up pasta in Tesco stores this week will notice a significant change in how some are packaged.
To reduce the amount of plastic packaging, Tesco has moved its Finest range of dried pasta into paper packaging, saving more than ten million pieces of plastic a year, weighing more than 30 tonnes.
Ten lines have been moved into the new packaging, which will also be available in Tesco Express stores. The new packs are 100 percent recyclable and can be put into household recycling bins.
“Removing unnecessary plastic is an important way for Tesco to reduce its environmental impact,” said Claire Lorains, Tesco Group's Sustainability and Quality Director.
“The new paper packaging works just as well as the old plastic but can be popped into your normal recycling bin with other paper. We're proud of our work so far to reduce the plastic we use at Tesco but will continue to look for ways to do more."
Tesco’s 4Rs packaging 4Rs (Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) strategy has been in place since 2019, and so far, more than 2.3 billion pieces of plastic have been removed from its UK business.
Some innovations this year include becoming the first supermarket to scrap plastic packaging for its own brand pocket tissue multi-packs, replacing it with recyclable paper, and saving more than 55 million pieces of soft plastic.
Focusing on incorporating recycled materials, Tesco also launched a new range of luxury soft toilet rolls and kitchen towels made from cardboard recycled from home delivery boxes, cardboard tubes from toilet rolls, and corrugated card waste.
The innovative pulp production process uses less water, chemicals and energy compared to using traditional tree fibre as the raw material.
