Supermarket chain Tesco is pledging to stop the sale of environmentally harmful plastic baby wipes in its stores.
The Mirror reports that the retail giant has said it will no longer purchase wet wipes made from plastics and will not sell or make them anymore either.
It is the latest eco-friendly move by Tesco, which was the first retailer to ban both plastic bags and microplastics, and campaigners are hoping others will follow.
A spokeswoman for Tesco told The Times : “There is no need for wet wipes to contain plastic so from now on we will no longer stock them if they do.”
The retailer is the biggest supplier of the products in the UK and it sells more than 200,000 packs of wet wipes a day (around 75 million annually).
The product, which is popular among parents, has been targeted by environmental campaigners who point out that many wipes use unrecyclable plastic fibres.
Tesco customers will still be able to buy plastic-free wipes and those made by eco-friendly brands such as Waterwipes and Rascal + Friends.
The supermarket chain says it aims to make lavatory wipes plastic-free from March and own-brand pet wipes without plastic by the end of the year.
Supermarkets have been coming under pressure from campaigners to reduce the amount of goods wrapped in plastic.
Friends of the Earth said the wipes contributed to “the tide of plastic waste that pours into our environment every year, threatening wildlife and blighting our neighbourhoods”.
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