Tesco to remove plastic wrapping from multi-pack tins

Supermarket giant Tesco has committed to removing plastic within its multipacks of tinned food.

The ‘Big Four’ grocer aims to eliminate 350 tonnes of plastic from the environment from its chains each year.

Tesco has teamed up with canned food retailers Heinz and Green Giant to remove the plastic from its products and replace them with plastic-free multi-buys.

The change will occur from 2 March, but Tesco will continue to sell down remaining stocks as over 40% of Tesco customers include multipacks in their shop. Multipacks of baked beans, tuna, tinned tomatoes and soup are among the most frequently-bought grocery items in the UK.

The move was first trialled with customers in Tesco’s Bar Hill Extra store. 

CEO Dave Lewis said: “We are removing all unnecessary and non-recyclable plastic from Tesco. As part of this work, removing plastic-wrapped multipacks from every Tesco store in the UK will cut 350 tonnes of plastic from the environment every year and customers will still benefit from the same great value ‘multipack’ price. This is part of our plan to remove 1 billion pieces of plastic in 2020.”

Earlier this month, Tesco reported a 0.4% increase in like-for-like sales in its six weeks ending 4 January as Strong food sales including a reported “biggest food sales day in history” helped Tesco post a slight Christmas sales increase in the UK and Ireland despite a “challenging environment”.