// Tesco stops selling baby wipes that contain plastic
// The wipes cause environmental damage as they block sewers and waterways
Tesco has revealed it has become the first main UK retailer to stop selling baby wipes containing plastic.
The Big 4 grocer said the wipes cause environmental damage as they block sewers and waterways after being flushed by consumers.
Tesco is stopping sales of branded baby wipes containing plastic from 14 March.
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The news comes after the supermarket ceased using plastic in its own-brand products.
Tesco customers purchase 75 million packs of baby wipes every year, amounting to 4.8 billion individual wipes.
The company said it had been working to reformulate some of the other own-label and branded wipes its sells to remove plastic, including cleaning wipes and moist toilet tissue.
Tesco began to remove plastic from its own-brand wet wipes in 2020, when it switched to biodegradable viscose, which it says breaks down far more quickly.
“We have worked hard to remove plastic from our wipes as we know how long they take to break down,” Tesco group quality director, Sarah Bradbury said.
Tesco is not the first retailer to remove wipes from sale on environmental grounds. Holland & Barrett said it was the first high-street retailer to ban the sale of all wet-wipe products from its 800 UK and Ireland stores in September 2019.
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