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Sainsbury’s cuts 700 tonnes of plastic from fish and chicken lines
All of the retailer’s own-label salmon trays will switch to pulp cardboard from plastic, apparently a first for a UK retailer, saving 346 tonnes of plastic a year.
Similarly, Sainsbury’s is rolling out cardboard trays across it Taste the Difference and By Sainsbury’s breaded chicken lines, saving a further 300 tonnes of plastic a year. The same change will also take place to its Taste the Difference fish fillets, with 48 tonnes of plastic saved.
Changes to seasonal range
The new packaging will roll out throughout the summer across many seasonal chicken lines, including Sainsbury’s finger food and BBQ range. The more sustainably packaged range will offer breaded goujons, nuggets, schnitzels and other on theme products.
Sainsbury’s described the pulp cardboard trays from all salmon lines and cardboard trays across breaded chicken and fish as easily recyclable in a bid to help consumer to reduce their household waste by placing the packaging in kerbside recycling at home.
Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “With salmon being one of our most popular fish, we made it a priority to reduce the plastic on the packaging of this much-loved product as we work towards our Plan for Better goals.
‘First for UK retail’
“We are now the first retailer to make the move to have recycled pulp card trays across all our By Sainsbury’s and Taste the Difference salmon products. Together with changes to our breaded fish and chicken packaging, we are set to save 694 tonnes of plastic a year – a significant step towards our plastic reduction goals.”
Sainsbury’s latest sustainability drive comes just over a year after it announced it would remove single-use plastic trays from its whole chicken range, saving 140 tonnes of plastic a year.
The trayless products use a minimum of 50% less plastic and are available in all stores across the UK and online. The changes affect five products in total, including all By Sainsbury’s whole chickens ranging from extra-small to extra-large sizes.
