Iceland put 159 million more items of plastic packaging on the UK market in 2021 than in 2019, according to its latest plastic footprint report.

The news comes in the wake of 2018’s high-profile commitment to eliminate plastic packaging from all the supermarket’s own-label ranges by the end of 2023.

According to the frozen food retailer’s latest plastic footprint report, Iceland put 1,702 tonnes more plastic product packaging on the UK market in 2021 than in 2019 – which equates to 159 million more items – revealing that any progress made has since been undone.

In total, the supermarket put 9,225 tonnes of own-label plastic on the UK market in 2021, made up of 789 million items. That’s 19 more tonnes and 81 million more items than it was responsible for in 2019, according to an earlier report covering that year.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

However, Iceland’s 2019 plastic footprint report was the first to be published by the retailer. It warned the data was “subject to limitations” and said the actual number of items would be higher than stated as a result.

The latest report says: “We have now updated our plastic footprint data, improving its accuracy and transparency for 2021.”

In July this year, Iceland MD Richard Walker backtracked on the promise to eliminate plastic from own-label ranges by the end of 2023, claiming they are currently “impossible.”

He blamed setbacks in the pandemic and was against passing on additional costs to customers.

“We need to democratise sustainability, and that means making it understandable, accessible and affordable by everyone,” Walker said at the time.

He added: “If we became plastic neutral now, we would have to pass some of that extra cost onto customers – and I’m simply not prepared to do it.”

Iceland is not alone in failing to meet plastic ambitions, however. Last month, German discounter Aldi was also struggling to deliver on its commitment to make all own-label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.