Supermarket chain Asda has announced it will no longer be stocking 5p plastic carrier bags by the end of 2018.
Following rival Tesco's plans to ditch the wasteful single use bags Asda has followed suit.
And it's not the only disposable items Asda is kicking into the long grass. The supermarket giant, founded in Leeds, will cease to use single use plastic cutlery and coffee cups, replacing them with reusable alternatives.
Asda has also pledged to reduce the amount of plastic it uses to package its own brand product.
Plastic carrier bags and other disposable items may be convenient but they are bad for the environment taking around 1,000 years to decompose. And burning them releases harmful gases into the atmosphere.
ASDA chief executive Roger Burnley told the Mirror : "Where we are able to go faster and harder to remove avoidable plastics from our products, we will.
"Our logic is to remove plastic wherever we can, and where it is required, to make it as recyclable as possible."
What's changing?
ASDA has said it will:
- Remove 10% of plastic from its own brand packaging in the next 12 months and publishing regular updates for customers to follow its progress
- Introduce a zero profit re-usable coffee cup to give customers a great value alternative to single use cups.
- Remove all single use cups and plastic cutlery from its offices in 2018 and all its stores and cafes by the end of 2019.
- Phase out 5p ‘single use’ carrier bags from its shops by the end of 2018 and introduce a donation to good causes from the sale of its “bags for life” so that charities don’t lose out.
- Work in partnership with the UK’s leading experts in packaging technology at the Leeds Beckett University Retail Institute as well as one of Asda’s biggest UK suppliers, ABP, on priority projects to develop new alternatives to plastics and more recyclable materials.
- Creating the Asda Plastic Ideas Hub, open to all from industry to individuals, offering a £10,000 award for every scaleable, workable idea that helps Asda to tackle its top plastic challenges – such as alternatives to plastic film.
Mr Burnley said Asda would be removing plastic items from its packaging where possible.
He said: "We’re also going to switch the 2.4 million plastic straws used in our cafes each year to paper. By changing our coloured drinks bottles to clear plastic, 500 more tonnes of plastic will be recycled.
"We will eliminate single use coffee cups and plastic cutlery from our Home Offices completely by the end of this year.
"Plus, we’ll be launching a ‘zero profit’ reusable coffee cup to help customers reduce their reliance on single use cups while we work to remove these from our shops and cafes by the end of 2019."
