Sainsbury’s remove plastic from over 1 million bouquets

Sainsbury’s is launching a new trial which makes it the first UK retailer to reduce plastic packaging in fresh floral ranges on a large scale.

The 12 week trial, which will run in 167 Sainsbury’s stores, marks another step towards achieving the company’s commitment to reduce plastics by 50% by 2025, across all Sainsbury’s food operations.

Plastic sleeves will be removed from more than one million fresh floral bunches and bouquets and replaced with recyclable paper packaging during the trial, saving over 10 tonnes of plastic. The sticky tape used to secure the wrapping will also be replaced with recyclable paper tape.

Sainsbury’s has worked with its suppliers to ensure that paper wrapping is introduced at the point of manufacture, rather than plastic wrapping being removed from the flowers and replaced with paper.

Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, said: “We are proud to be the first retailer to trial a large scale reduction of fresh floral plastics across 167 of our stores. Our customers have made it clear that they want us to reduce plastic packaging.

“This initiative is very much a testing and learning activity for us, so we will be seeking feedback from customers as well as getting a better understanding of how our supply chain manages the new packaging throughout.

“This latest trial supports our broader goal of reducing, reusing, replacing and recycling more plastic.”

Sainsbury’s will closely monitor the supply chain process and customer feedback over the next 12 weeks to assess the overall performance of the trial before making a decision on next steps.

The trial will run into December and follows a range of initiatives the retailer has launched as part of its efforts to reduce, reuse, replace and recycle more plastic.
Sainsbury’s is also working alongside government and other businesses to support research and innovation in packaging and find long term, sustainable alternatives to plastic.