Tesco rolls out ‘soft plastic’ recycling points for customers to return old packaging such as bread bags

Tesco has started rolling out “soft plastic” recycling points so items such as bread bags and crisp packets can be turned into new packaging.

The retailer said a trial had already seen customers return more than 10 times the expected amount of plastic, withfruit and vegetable packaging, salad bags and baby and pet food pouches among the list of items most popular returned.

The returned material has been used to produce food grade packaging for a selection of Tesco cheeses.

Tesco has started putting the recycling points into 171 stores in the south-west of England and Wales with plans to roll out to all large stores nationwide.

Once collected, the soft plastic packaging brought back by customers is sent for recycling where it is washed, sorted and processed before being turned into new packaging for food, household and beauty products.

“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,” said Tesco’s director of quality, Sarah Bradbury.

“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.”

The supermarket said the move would provide the UK’s biggest network of recycling points for soft plastic, which is not commonly recycled by councils in kerbside collections and often ends up in the bin.

It expects to collect and recycle 1,000 tonnes of plastic a year through the scheme, with consumers allowed to return all their soft plastic, regardless of where they bought it.

The move has been welcomed by environmental charity WWF, whose sustainable materials specialist Paula Chin said: “Plastic pollution is one of the most visible symptoms of the environmental crisis and is devastating our natural world.

“Businesses, governments and households have all got an important part to play in tackling the issue, so it’s encouraging to see Tesco extending their successful soft plastics collection trial across more of their stores, giving their customers even more opportunity to recycle these valuable materials.”