Morrisons is set to become the first British supermarket to roll-out plastic free fruit and veg areas across stores nationwide.
Shoppers will have the option to shop over 127 varieties of fruit and veg loose or in recyclable paper bags as the retailer rolls out the initiative.
The offering will include everyday items like potatoes, onions, tomatoes and millennial favourite avocados, as well as selected seasonal produce.
The loose fruit and veg areas will be rolled out in 60 Morrisons stores during the course of 2019 (check details for your local store online at morrisons.com ), but customers will still have the option of buying packaged fruit and veg if they wish.
The chain's new 'buy bagless' shelves are expected to save an estimated three tonnes of plastic a week - or around 156 tonnes a year.
Drew Kirk, Fruit and Veg Director at Morrisons said: “Many of our customers would like the option of buying their fruit and veg loose. So we’re creating an area of our greengrocery with no plastic where they can pick as much or as little as they like. We’re going back to using traditional greengrocery and we hope customers appreciate the choice.”
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The announcement follows the results of Morrisons 10-month trial at three stores (in Skipton, Guiseley and St Ives), which saw the amount of loose produce bought by shoppers increase by around 40%.
The latest move is just one of the chain's plastic reduction initiatives, which has already seen Morrisons implement changes to remove over 9,000 tonnes of problematic plastic waste from its production.
The supermarket giant has removed over 600 tonnes of unrecyclable polystyrene from branded food and drink products, and a further 1,300 tonnes of plastic will be removed following the launch of paper bags in stores this month.
What bag-less items will be available?
- Apples
- Apricot
- Banana
- Clementine
- Coconut
- Fig
- Kiwi
- Lemons
- Limes
- Mango
- Melon
- Nectarine
- Oranges
- Papaya
- Passion Fruit
- Peach
- Pears
- Persimmon
- Pineapple
- Plum
- Pomegranate
- Rhubarb
- Avocado
- Beetroot
- Cucumber
- Peppers
- Salad onions
- Tomatoes
- Artichoke
- Asparagus
- Aubergine
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Celeriac
- Courgettes
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Kale
- Leeks
- Marrow
- Mushroom
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Sprouts
- Squash
- Swede
- Sweet Potatoes
- Sweetcorn
- Turnip
