This has seen Tesco remove more than 20 million pieces of plastic from its own-brand Christmas crackers, lights, cards and puddings
The move is part of Tesco's 4Rs packaging strategy (Credit: Tesco)
UK-based supermarket Tesco has announced it has removed more than 20 million pieces of plastic from this year’s Christmas range.
This has seen the firm’s own-brand packaging crackers, lights, cards and puddings produced using less single-use plastic.
The move to remove plastic from Christmas products comes as development teams across the firm have been looking for ways to use less plastic as a part of its 4Rs packaging strategy – to remove it where it can, reduce where it can’t, reuse more, and recycle what’s left.
Tesco’s quality director Sarah Bradbury said: “It is an absolute priority of ours to remove and reduce the amount of plastic in our stores to the minimum and ensure everything we use is recycled and kept out of the environment.
“Christmas time is no exception and we want to do our bit to help customers have more sustainable celebrations.”
Tesco cuts more than 14 million pieces of plastic from its own-label Christmas crackers
For the first time, Tesco’s own label crackers are plastic-free, and will include non-plastic presents that are now sold without plastic in cardboard packaging – this cuts more than 14 million pieces of plastic from the seasonal range.
In addition to this, 312,000 Christmas lights will be sold in recyclable cardboard packaging.
Also, packs of Christmas cards are now free from plastic, with multipacks of cards sold in a recyclable cardboard box – a decision which saves 4.6 million pieces of plastic a year.
A layer of plastic has also been removed from Tesco’s Christmas puddings and sponges – a decision which removes 1.78 million pieces of plastic.
Alongside this, the firm has stopped using glitter for all single-use products and packaging, with wrapping paper, gift bags, cards, and crackers now glitter-free and widely recyclable.
This work follows on from recent research conducted by the supermarket chain that found that 74% of consumers will have sustainability in mind when making purchasing decisions – an increase of 36% year-on-year.
It also discovered that 51% of the nation will reuse old Christmas decorations, and 32% will only buy loose fruit and veg to reduce plastic packaging.
Additionally, 23% will reuse wrapping paper while 19% will try to be more sustainable by not buying gifts, wrapping or decorations made of plastic.