Asda is taking another step to reduce plastic packaging, this time by introducing a new ‘sustainability store’ where shoppers can fill their own containers with products.
From May, the Asda store in Middleton will have a section where you can refill packages with own-brand coffee, rice, and pasta, as well as Kellog’s cereals such as Coco Pops and Rice Krispies and PG Tips tea.
This means that rather than buying a new container each time you run out of those essential items, you can just refill an old one or bring along a nice jar, tin, bucket – whatever you fancy.
The store will also sell plastic-free flowers and loose vegetables free of plastic packaging, in further attempts to be more eco-conscious.
Customers of the branch will be asked to give their feedback on trials that will last for at least three months. If all goes well, Asda will consider rolling out the scheme to other stores.
This isn’t the first store to offer the fill-your-own-container option.
In Scotland there’s a plastic-free store where customers can buy as little or as much as they like, whether that’s a single egg or a handful of pasta.
M&S, meanwhile, allows you to bring your own container for their to-go food, which gets you 25p off.
Waitrose also offered a trial of a ‘bring your own box’ scheme’.
The sustainability store is Asda’s latest move in the battle against plastic. Since 2018 the brand has removed 8,000 tonnes of plastic from its own-brand packaging, and recently committed to making all its own-brand packaging recyclable by 2025.
Asda chief executive Roger Burnley said: ‘We’re on an ongoing quest to remove and reduce the amount of plastic in our business and to find new ways to help our customers to reuse and refill our products.
‘It’s a journey we can’t go on alone, which is why we invited our suppliers to innovate with us and I’m delighted that household names like Kellogg’s and Unilever have joined us in testing new ideas and approaches to sustainability at our Middleton store.
‘Over the coming weeks and months, we will be testing and learning from the customers in Middleton to understand how we can reduce our environmental impacts whilst still maintaining the great service and quality our customers demand.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/16/asda-offering-refill-stations-sustainability-store-cut-plastic-12066627/
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