Asda and Tesco have announced new plans to help shoppers cut down on single-use plastic.
From next year, Asda will be encouraging customers to bring their own containers that can be refilled with produce using dispensers in stores as part of a trial lasting approximately three months.
The move comes as the supermarket chain tries to move away from plastic packaging.
By the end of 2020, Asda said almost a third of its own brand plastic packaging will come from recycled materials, which it says will spare roughly 19,500 tonnes of non-recycled plastic.
The retailer is also aiming to reduce the total amount of plastic it uses by 15 per cent by February 2021.
Asda chief executive Roger Burnley said cutting down on single-use plastic was “at the top of our minds”.
"Our focus is on removing unnecessary plastic,” Burnley added, “and where packaging is beneficial to the life of a product we will trial new solutions that are as recycled and as recyclable as possible."
As for Tesco, the supermarket is launching the UK’s first large-scale trial of refillable containers for online shoppers early next year.
The scheme is called Loop and will include 5,000 customers whose online orders will be delivered in stainless steel, aluminium, thick plastic or glass containers that they can return to Tesco to be cleaned and refilled before being sent to another shopper.
Customers will have to pay a deposit for each container to encourage them to return them. Prices will vary depending on the size of the container, with glass bottles costing 80p and large metal containers, which will be filled with things like ice cream or body lotion, will cost £5.
Not all products will available for purchase via Loop, but around 150 will, including some from brands such as Tropicana and Persil.
You can read more about how UK supermarkets are tackling plastic pollutionhere.
