Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Supermarket chain Asda is taking the next step in its efforts to reduce plastic use by introducing reusable fruit & veg bags and stripping all the plastic off its growing herbs range.
Customers nationwide can purchase the reusable bags, which are made from 100% recycled plastic bottles and are machine-washable. Priced at a £1 for three, the bags provide customers with a reusable alternative to single-use plastic fruit and veg bags.
Billed as a supermarket first, Asda has also stripped plastic completely off its growing herbs range in a move that will save more than 45 tonnes of plastic a year. The herbs are now packaged in a soil plug and paper sleeve rather than a plastic plant pot and plastic sleeve. The plants cost 50p each.
Asda senior manager for produce Helen Smale said: “We know our customers are always looking at ways to reduce their plastic use and these bags are a great way to help them shift to a genuinely reusable option. We’re working hard, alongside our suppliers, to find ways to remove unnecessary plastic from Asda products, with the innovation in our new herbs range helping us take another step on our journey to use less and recycle more.”
Asda has already removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic – equivalent to more than 600 million plastic bottles – from its own-brand range in a year, and will make all of its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025. In addition, it claims to be the first supermarket to remove all single-use carrier bags from stores and grocery home shopping, eliminating an estimated 375m plastic bags from circulation each year.
