LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Britain’s biggest supermarket
group Tesco launched a trial on Monday that allows
customers to buy food, drink, household and beauty products in
reusable packaging, part of its strategy to cut plastic waste.
Britons have become increasingly aware of the amount of
plastic they use in recent years, with television documentaries
such as naturalist David Attenborough's "Blue Planet II"
particularly highlighting the dangers of plastic pollution to
marine life.
In response, supermarket chains and consumer goods groups
are increasingly testing refills in a drive to cut single-use
plastics.
Through a partnership with Loop, the global reusable
packaging platform, customers in 10 Tesco stores in eastern
England will be able to buy products in reusable packaging that
can be returned to stores when finished so it can be cleaned,
refilled and used again.
A range of 88 products will be offered, including brands
such as Unilever’s Persil laundry detergent and Radox
shower gel, PZ Cussons’ Carex handwash, Fevertree
drinks, Heinz ketchup, Coca Cola, Tetley
Tea and Brewdog beer, as well as 35 Tesco own-brand essentials,
such as pasta, rice, sugar and oil.
In June, Asda, Britain's third-biggest grocer, extended its
trial of a refill scheme after sales of several products in an
initial pilot store outsold packaged alternatives.
Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Waitrose have
also been trailing concepts.
Tesco said it will add more products to its scheme
throughout the year and the trial would be scaled-up if it
proved successful.
“We are determined to tackle plastic waste and one of the
ways we can help is by improving reuse options available to
customers,” said Tesco Chief Executive Ken Murphy.
“We’ll learn as much as we can from this to inform our
future packaging plans,” he said.
The Loop platform was launched in 2019 in Paris and New
York.
The launch of Loop in Tesco stores followed a year long
online pilot that began in July 2020.
Tesco said prices for the contents of each item are
comparable to the original. A fully refundable deposit starting
at 50 pence (70 U.S. cents) is paid on each reusable product at
the store checkout, refunded via an app when the customer
returns the packaging to a collection point in store.
($1 = 0.7212 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Susan Fenton)
