Network
September 17th 2018
Waitrose to replace plastic bags with compostable alternative
Waitrose has announced it will stop selling single-use carrier bags by March 2019.
Instead, they will offer a home compostable alternative which will break down in landfill if put in a normal bin.
The bags can also be placed in food waste bins or home composted.
Waitrose & Partners will initially remove 5p bags from six shops from 8th October ahead of their complete removal in March 2019.
In July, Environment Journal reported that plastic bag sales in England’s ‘big seven’ supermarkets have dropped by 86% since the Government introduced its 5p plastic bag charge in 2015.
Waitrose is the first major supermarket to remove the bags completely.
Tor Harris, head of CSR, Health & Agriculture for Waitrose, said: ‘The removal of these bags will change the way our customers, many of whom have been asking us to do this, shop with us in the future.
‘We know we still have a lot to do, but as with our commitment to removing takeaway disposable cups earlier this year, this represents another major step forward in reducing our use of plastics.’
Earlier this year, the retailer announced that it would be removing all takeaway disposable coffee cups from its shops by autumn 2018.
As of today, they’ve achieved this in 300 of their 348 stores.
Waitrose has also pledged not to sell any own label food in black plastic beyond 2019 and to make all own-label packaging widely recyclable (using the widely recycled logo), reusable, or home compostable by 2025.
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