Top stores ‘failing’ over plastic waste
Sainsbury’s and Tesco ‘lag behind rivals on packaging’
LEADING supermarkets are failing to cut back on unnecessary and wasteful plastic packaging, according to Greenpeace.
The environmental organisation says Sainsbury’s and Tesco are lagging behind in their efforts to remove plastic from the aisles and should be doing more.
It claims that Sainsbury’s has pledged to reduce plastic by just 77 tonnes a year by removing packaging from gift cards.
Tesco is phasing out plastic straws in its cafes, but the measure will mean removing only one million pieces of plastic, said Greenpeace.
Both supermarkets have made other pledges to tackle the plastic menace, although they cannot say how much they will remove.
Compared to the other Big Four supermarkets, Asda and Morrisons, they have drawn up fewer strategies to tackle the issue and have yet to take action over plastic cutlery in stores or bring in paper bags for produce.
The Greenpeace analysis was for plastic waste reductions not including clothing.
Elena Polisano, of Greenpeace UK, said: ‘ As the two biggest supermarkets, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have the biggest plastic footprint and should be taking responsibility for that. But they are lagging behind rather than leading the way.
‘Tesco at least has some measures in the pipeline, including a trial of loose fruit and veg, and a forthcoming trial of refillable packaging. And it’s pledged to phase out some problem plastics this year.
‘But Sainsbury’s is the worst in class, and must urgently reduce plastic – starting with eliminating unnecessary and unrecyclable plastic by 2020.’
The Daily Mail has campaigned against throwaway plastic, prompting supermarkets to take extra action beyond the mandatory 5p plastic bag tax. Measures announced in the past year include Iceland’s trial of a plastic-free fruit and veg aisle, Morrisons removing plastic sleeves from cucumbers and asparagus, Waitrose getting rid of disposable coffee cups and Aldi replacing hard-to-recycle black plastic trays.
Sainsbury’s has pledged to introduce food cartons with 85 per cent less packaging, but has announced only five measures to reduce plastic compared with Asda’s 12.
Three of those, including removing plastic cups and cutlery from its offices, but not its stores, came in the past month. Its gift card initiative will reduce plastic use by 77 tonnes, but Asda claims to have removed 6,500 tonnes, and Morrisons 3,766 tonnes. Tesco is to trial refillable containers for online shopping, but has made only five plasticcutting pledges and, it is claimed, reported reducing individual plastic items by just one million.
Greenpeace, which looked at public statements made by Britain’s ten biggest supermarkets, found Marks & Spencer had removed 527.5million plastic items. The average was 266.3million items.
Sainsbury’s disputed the 77 tonne claim and said: ‘We will reduce plastic by well over 2,400 tonnes in the next 12 months alone.’
But Greenpeace says that figure relates mostly to clothing, which was not included in its survey.
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We are committed to reducing the amount of packaging in our stores.
‘We are working hard to make sure any remaining plastic has a clear purpose and is recyclable.’
Environmental campaigners say retailers are focusing too much on recycling plastic and not enough on reducing its use. Each year the supermarkets use more than 800,000 tonnes of single-use plastic.
More than 922,000 people have signed Greenpeace’s petition calling for supermarkets to ditch throwaway plastic packaging.
The Daily Mail has campaigned against plastic waste and is supporting the Great British Spring Clean. We have seen 520,163 amazing volunteers pledge to help clean up the UK, including more than 160,000 from schools.
The Great British Spring Clean, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, is taking place from Friday, March 22, to Tuesday, April 23. You can still sign up, on your own or in a group, at gbspringclean.org.