Morrisons have made a pledge to ditch plastic packaging ahead of COP26, the climate change conference being held in Glasgow, to help slow down the rate of climate change.
The long-awaiting move will see all its plastic packaging being removed from their bananas meaning they will be the first supermarket to remove the plastic from what is the second most commonly bought product in Morrisons.
Replacing the plastic bags will be new paper bands in an effort to reduce their use of plastic across all of their lines with the supermarket also ditching plastic packing for their eggs.
To help reduce their carbon footprint and become eco-friendly, Morrisons committed to a 50% reduction across its own brand primary plastic packaging by 2025 and as a result they were also the first supermarket to reintroduce paper and string bags for their loose fruit and veg as well as providing water-resistant and tear-free paper carrier bags.
Initiatives introduced over the last 12 months will remove 8,000 tonnes of unnecessary or problematic plastic each year with 83% of its own-brand plastic packaging now fully recyclable.
The new strengthened paper bands, made from FSC certified paper, will ensure that banana bunches remain intact. The bands will feature: Country of Origin; Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and Soil Association Certification information; and, barcodes.
This means that a staggering 45 million single-use plastic bags - equivalent to 180 tonnes of plastic - will be removed from their stores per year.
The news follows a successful 12-week trial which saw the supermarket remove over two million pre-packed plastic bags to date.
Elio Biondo, Banana Buyer from Morrisons, said: “Bananas have their own packaging - their skins. They also grow in bunches which generally means they don’t need bagging together.
"So a simple sturdy paper band is the ideal alternative. In trials the quality of the bananas has remained the same, so this switch out of plastic is a no-brainer.”
