Sainsbury's launches largest recycling system for flexible plastic packaging

Following a successful trial in the northeast of England, 520 Sainsbury's stores will now offer a recycling system for all flexible plastics.

Sainsbury's is the leading supermarket with the largest rollout of this initiative to date. The mass rollout will help dramatically reduce plastic waste pollution. Only 17% of UK local authorities collect flexible plastics for recycling!

Common household items that can now be recycled include crisp packets, grocery bags, salad bags, cookie and cake wrappers. Following a successful trial in the North East of England, Sainsbury's has introduced an innovative new recycling scheme in a total of 520 supermarkets, allowing customers to recycle all flexible plastic packaging that is not usually accepted for kerbside collection by local authorities.

The in-store recycling points make it easier than ever for customers to make more sustainable choices by offering a trusted recycling system where they can properly dispose of flexible plastic packaging. This includes packaging such as potato chips packs, grocery bags, salad bags and cookie and cake wrappers, which are currently not accepted for recycling by 83% of UK local authorities.

The expanded initiative has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of plastic packaging that ends up in landfills. A report by WRAP estimates that flexible films contributed to 290,000 tons of plastic packaging waste in 2019.

The launch of the new market-leading recycling scheme by Sainsbury's is the latest step in the retailer's initiative to reduce, reuse, replace and recycle plastics in its own operations, while making it even easier for customers to recycle.

The news follows the announcement in May that Sainsbury's had joined the Flexible Plastic Fund - an initiative designed to ensure flexible plastics are properly recycled. Although flexible plastics account for a fifth of all plastic packaging used by UK citizens, only 6% is currently collected for recycling.

Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury's, said:

We are very pleased to announce the widespread rollout of the flexible plastics recycling program in over 520 of our stores. Making recycling easier for our customers is an important part of our strategy to minimize the impact of single-use plastics on the environment, as well as our own ambitious goal to reduce the use of plastics in our own operations by 50% by 2025.

Sainsbury's has become the first retailer to commit to halving its use of plastic packaging by 2025.

The company has also led the way by removing single-use plastic bags from loose products, reducing the amount of plastic in packaging for Taste the Difference and SO Organic Lamb and Steak by 70%, and eliminating over 297 tons of plastic waste by working with Prevented Ocean Plastic to repurpose plastic collected on the coast into packaging for its strawberry and fresh fish ranges.

The retailer has also been announced as a key supermarket partner for the United Nations International Climate Change Conference, COP26, taking place this November.

For more information on Sainsbury's commitment to Plan for Better, visit: https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/plan-for-better

For more information on Sainsbury's commitment to flexible plastics, please visit: https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/plan-for-better/our-stories/2021/flexible-plastics