Sainsbury’s to Sell Bakery Products without Plastic Bags

Sainsbury’s will be the first UK supermarket to remove plastic bags for loose fruit, vegetables and bakery items from all stores, offering paper and re-usable bags made from recycled materials.

Sainsbury’s has committed to cutting a further 1,284 tonnes of plastic this year. This includes removing 489 tonnes’ worth of plastic bags, which are currently used for products, including bakery items.

By September, paper bags will be available to customers for loose bakery items. Customers buying loose fruit and vegetables will either be able to bring their own bags or buy a re-usable bag made from recycled materials.

Sainsbury’s has previously implemented measures that are already leading to a reduction of 8,101 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic and “virgin plastic” every year. Its latest efforts bring this total to over 10,000 tonnes. This is in addition to its commitments to ensure all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

Sainsbury’s will also remove plastic cutlery from stores as well as plastic trays, lids and sleeves. The supermarket will also replace black plastic trays, plastic film, PVC and polystyrene trays, plastic cutlery with recyclable alternatives.  

Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe said: “We are absolutely committed to reducing unnecessary plastic packaging in Sainsbury’s stores. Our customers expect us to be leading the way on major issues like this, so I am determined to remove and replace plastic packaging where we can and offer alternatives to plastic where packaging is still required to protect a product.”

This included a pledge to end the use of dark colored plastics (which are difficult to recycle) across fresh foods by the end of 2019 and entirely by March 2020. Today Sainsbury’s has confirmed black plastic trays will be replaced with recyclable alternatives by the end of the year, with black ready-meal trays replaced within the next two months.