Asda

Asda has removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic from its own brand product packaging – reaching a target set in February 2018.

Through product redesign and innovation, Asda has reduced plastic in almost 1,000 individual products, removing the equivalent weight of 600 million empty plastic bottles.

Changes over the last 12 months include replacing five million plastic bags on its bedding range with a cardboard band, taking plastic covers off over 50 million greetings cards and changing pizza bases from non-recyclable polystyrene to fully recyclable cardboard.

Asda president and ceo, Roger Burnley, said: “Making changes of this scale in a business of this size is never easy, but I was clear last year that we needed to take a root and branch review of what packaging we use for our products.

“Our customers expected this of us and while we’ve reached a major milestone, we know there is more that can be done and we are committed to making meaningful changes wherever possible. In many cases packaging is still essential to protect against waste, but avoiding the use of unnecessary plastic will rightly be the starting point for all of our packaging designs in future.”

Asda aims to make all of its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025.