Asda to scrap 5p bags as part of eco pledge

IN an effort to reduce plastic use, ASDA has said it will scrap 5p carrier bags in its stores by the end of the year.

But that’s just one phase of the supermarket’s war on plastic, with cheap re-usable coffee cups coming in and plastic cutlery and cups disappearing from cafes and offices.

“Where we are able to go faster and harder to remove avoidable plastics from our products, we will,” said ASDA chief executive Roger Burnley.

“Our logic is to remove plastic wherever we can, and where it is required, to make it as recyclable as possible.” ASDA has said it will:

Remove 10% of plastic from its own brand packaging in the next 12 months and publishing regular updates for customers to follow its progress

Introduce a zero profit reusable coffee cup to give customers a great value alternative to single use cups.

Remove all single use cups and plastic cutlery from its offices in 2018 and all its stores and cafes by the end of 2019.

Phase out 5p ‘single use’ carrier bags from its shops by the end of 2018 and introduce a donation to good causes from the sale of its “bags for life” so that charities don’t lose out.

Work in partnership with the UK’s leading experts in packaging technology at the Leeds Beckett University Retail Institute as well as one of Asda’s biggest UK suppliers, ABP, on priority projects to develop new alternatives to plastics and more recyclable materials

Creating the Asda Plastic Ideas Hub, open to all from industry to individuals, offering a £10,000 award for every scaleable, workable idea that helps Asda to tackle its top plastic challenges – such as alternatives to plastic film.

And that’s just the headline measures. Everything that can be changed, will be.

“We are going to change the polystyrene bases in our pizzas to cardboard, removing 178 tonnes of plastic from customers’ homes,” Burnley said.

“We’re also going to switch the 2.4 million plastic straws used in our cafes each year to paper. By changing our coloured drinks bottles to clear plastic, 500 more tonnes of plastic will be recycled.

“We will eliminate single use coffee cups and plastic cutlery from our Home Offices completely by the end of this year.

“Plus, we’ll be launching a ‘zero profit’ reusable coffee cup to help customers reduce their reliance on single use cups while we work to remove these from our shops and cafes by the end of 2019.”

Asda has produced a full mission statement on how they plan to cut plastic.