Removing plastic bags from our bakery and fruit & veg aisles

Removing plastic bags from our bakery and fruit & veg aisles

27 September 2019

We recently announced our most significant commitment to reducing plastic to date, pledging to halve the amount we use by 2025.

Currently we use around 120,000 tonnes of plastic each year and over the past 12 months even with all our efforts to reduce plastic packaging we have achieved a reduction of around 1% each year, so we know how ambitious this target is. We are fully committed to achieving this goal and know that we won’t meet it by simply introducing quick wins. We will need to completely transform our business and work with customers and others across the industry to fulfil this commitment.

Shopping for fruit and vegetables
One of the many steps we’re taking to meet our 2025 target is to remove all plastic bags from our bakery and fruit and veg aisles. This will save a combined 515 tonnes of plastic each year. Following a successful trial in our Lincoln and Kidlington stores in which customer feedback was resoundingly positive, we’re rolling this out to all stores across the UK.

When shopping for loose fruit and veg our customers can now purchase a reusable drawstring bag or bring in their own containers. These bags are each made from one recycled plastic bottle and are available in stores for 30p. So far we’ve removed all plastic bags and replaced them with reusable bags in all our convenience stores and almost 500 supermarkets with all final stores to follow by the end of October – saving 489 tonnes of plastic per year.

Although some have questioned why we aren’t introducing paper bags into our fresh produce aisles as an alternative to plastic, the reality is that paper is bulkier and heavier than plastic, which has a knock-on effect on carbon emissions. Storing fresh fruit and veg in paper bags offers no benefit in terms of increasing freshness. However, bakery items stay fresher for longer when using bakery bags which reduces food waste.

Removal of plastic bags from our bakery
We’ve also been working to remove plastic bags from our bakery and are delighted that all disposable plastic bags have now been taken out of the bakery sections of all our stores. This rollout followed a successful trial in three stores where we replaced these plastic bags with more easily recycled paper bags. Customers are also encouraged to bring their own containers if they prefer.

By swapping plastic for paper in our bakery aisles we are set to remove 26 tonnes of plastic from stores each year.

What other steps are we taking?
These are just the latest in a series of recent initiatives we’ve introduced to remove, replace, re-use and recycle, including:

Launching a ‘pre-cycling’ trial in 15 stores across England and Wales allowing customers to recycle plastic packaging BEFORE they leave the store – we expect this to recycle 1000 item per store per day

• Removing plastic bags from online grocery deliveries

• Removing plastic trays from feta cheese displays – saving 36 tonnes of plastic each year

• Introducing an online tool allowing customers, colleagues and suppliers to submit ideas through our website to help reduce plastic packaging: www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/helpreduceplastic.