Sainsbury’s has announced its intention to sell 39.5 million items packaged in plastic recycled from coastal areas this year.
The Big 4 grocer claims this will save 297 tonnes of plastic, or 12 million plastic bottles, from ending up in the sea.
Working alongside packaging supplier Sharpak, 80 per cent of Berry Garden strawberry punnets and a third of fish packaging will be made using ocean-bound plastic.
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The supermarket added that the move will also support coastal communities by providing over 6000 days of employment for plastic bottle collectors.
“Not only will it have a positive environmental impact by preventing plastic from polluting the ocean, but it will also have an important social impact […] and support overseas coastal communities at risk of ocean plastic pollution,” Sainsbury’s product director Claire Hughes said.
Sharpak division director Patrick Gautier said the initiative could “help educate consumers that plastic is a valuable resource that can be recycled and not to be littered into environment.”
Sainsbury’s shift to recycled coastal plastic is part of a wider ambition to halve its plastic packaging by 2025.
The news comes after the supermarket was ranked behind Waitrose, Aldi, Marks and Spencer, and Lidl for plastic use by Greenpeace earlier this year.
