// Tesco tells suppliers to move three times as fast to scrap plastic from shelves
// It has set a target of removing plastic from a total of 5 billion products sold by 2025
Tesco has informed suppliers that they need to move three times as fast in scrapping plastic from shelves, as it moves towards more reusable products.
The Big Four grocer has set a target of removing plastic from a total of five billion products sold by 2025.
This represents a huge acceleration of its ‘4Rs’ (remove, reduce, reuse, recycle) strategy, which in February it said had removed 1.6 billion pieces of plastic across 1,500 different lines since it launched in 2019.
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Tesco said it was urging suppliers to “accelerate progress” and to “go further and faster in removing plastic” where alternatives were possible.
The grocer will focus on the sale of loose or unpackaged products such as fresh fruit & veg as well as a big upscaling of the use of concentrates and reusable and refillable packaging.
Tesco has warned suppliers it reserves the right to delist products that fail to comply with its move on plastic, which has seen the retailer produce a list of preferred material and formats and a raft of “red” materials which it is phasing out.
“We’ve already made progress to minimise the environmental impact of our packaging, but we know there is more we can do with suppliers on the issue of plastic waste,” Tesco group quality director Sarah Bradbury said.
“We’re bringing suppliers together to work solutions because we are determined to go further and accelerate our progress, with a focus on the areas of greatest impact.”
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