By Nicole Durkin |
Over the course of one year, all UK supermarkets are said to generate over 800million tonnes of plastic packaging, according to Greenpeace. In this week’s news, Tesco has introduced a new in-store recycling scheme which encourages its customers to recycle their ‘soft plastics’. These types of plastics include crisp packets, bread bags, pet food pouches, sweet wrappers, tin foil, foil trays and plastic films. They are often refused for recycling by councils, but can now be recycled with the new recycling scheme in Tesco stores.
The way the supermarket will recycle each bit of plastic is through a process developed by a specialist firm called Recycling Technologies. This process transforms the plastic waste into a type of oil named Plaxx, which is then used to manufacture new plastics.
This trial will commence shortly and will begin with 10 collection points at branches in and around Bristol and Swindon. This new introduction comes after the launch of a sperate trial to promote sustainability in two different Tesco stores. In which dozens of fruit and vegetables that are usually packed in plastic wrapping or bags will instead be sold loosely.
