Buckinghamshire Tesco stores to remove one billion pieces of plastic from products by 2020

The supermarket chain has made the pledge to tackle the use of plastics in its business as part of its 4R’s plan – remove, reduce, reuse and recycle.

Tom Nicholson, Tesco Communications Manager for the South East, said: “Our Buckinghamshire customers will really welcome this. I’d like to thank every one of them who has shared examples of ways they feel we can cut plastic in our Buckinghamshire stores.

“These conversations are making a real difference and they’ll continue to do so, as we look for more ways to remove, reduce, reuse and recycle packaging, to protect our environment.”

To remove one billion pieces from Tesco own brand products by the end of 2020, Tesco will be removing:

 small plastic bags, commonly used to pack loose fruit, vegetables and bakery items, and replacing them with paper ones

 plastic trays from ready meals

 secondary lids on products such as cream, yoghurts and cereals

 sporks and straws from snack pots and drinks cartons

 200m pieces of plastic used to pack clothing and greetings cards Customers in Buckinghamshire will see these changes in their stores over the coming 12 months.

Tesco has already stopped offering carrier bags with online deliveries – a decision which will stop 250 million bags being produced every year.

Tesco’s 4 R’s strategy means it will remove non-recyclable and excess packaging from its business.

Where it can’t be removed – for example, where it prevents food waste – Tesco will work with its suppliers to reduce it to an absolute minimum.

The retailer will explore new opportunities to reuse its packaging and ensure that anything left is all recycled as part of a closed loop.