Are supermarkets packing it in?

Now it is seen as one of the enemies in our drive for a greener lifestyle. Each year around ten million tonnes of packaging waste is produced in the UK, most of which is disposed of in landfill sites. A large amount of this waste could be recycled.

A decade ago, the Packaging Waste Regulations came into force, with targets set for the first time in 1998. The regulations have had a strong influence on recycling over the past few years, through asking companies which handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging in a year and have an annual turnover of more than £2 million, to account for recovery and recycling of materials.

This is part of a Europe-wide effort to achieve packaging recovery rates of 60 per cent, of which between 55 and 80 per cent should be recycled, by December 31, 2008.

The country's leading supermarkets are making huge efforts to be at the forefront of this packaging waste revolution. We look at some of the many measures being taken by the leading supermarkets to reduce their impact upon the environment.

TESCO

Last year Tesco pledged to reduce the number of bags it issued by a quarter by 2008. The company is well on the way to achieving this and, since last August, has saved almost half a billion bags by rewarding customers who reuse bags through its Green Clubcard scheme. One point is awarded for each carrier bag a customer brings to the store to use, whether it is a Tesco bag or another kind.

The company's own free carrier bags are degradable and made to leave no harmful residue once in landfill. Tesco also has an attractive and practical range of bags including new hessian shopping bags and Bags for Life, which can be replaced free of charge if they wear out. These are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic and can also be recycled.

The supermarket chain also operates a scheme in which customers can return old mobile phones and ink cartridges in exchange for clubcard points. Both are sent off and recycled.

MORRISONS

Bradford-based Morrisons plans to use 15 per cent less own brand packaging by 2010. The company is also beginning to introduce symbols on its packaging to make it easier for customers to recycle.

It aims to reduce the environmental impact of carrier bag use by 25 per cent by the end of 2008 and 50 per cent by 2010, by increasing the recyclable content.

By the end of this year, the amount of compostable packaging will be extended to 200 lines, By 2010 the proportion of store waste recovered for recycling will rise from the present 72 per cent to 80 per cent, and the volume of waste to landfill will be halved.

Returnable baskets are being used, and reused, extensively to move stock around, both inside stores and externally. These replace cardboard and other packaging used to transport and display products. In the past year, the number of basket trips has increased by more than nine per cent to 144 million, saving around 65,000 tonnes of cardboard.

Customers will be able to identify air-freighted produce, which will be labelled. The idea of carbon labelling is also being explored.

Morrisons is also increasing opportunities for customers to recycle at and through its stores.

SAINSBURY'S

Sainsbury's has made a pledge that by the end of this year all its ready meals will be in compostable packaging - this means 125 million plastic trays will disappear.

The company has a target to reduce the use of packaging by five per cent every year, by reducing excessive packaging and working with suppliers to use greener forms of packaging - the preferred kinds being either compostable or recycled.

The reductions will mean that 150 million plastic trays and bags on Sainsbury's ready meals and organic food will disappear every year to be replaced with compostable packaging - this means that instead of plastic, maize, sugar cane or starch will be used. Excessive packaging on Easter eggs has already been addressed.

The company is printing more messages on its food packaging to explain what customers can do to recycle or compost, such as Sorry, not recyclable,' or please recycle.'

ASDA

Asda was the first supermarket to announce that it would stop sending any waste to landfill by 2010. And this month, in a radical move, the supermarket asked shoppers to help it identify over-packaged goods.

The company currently recycles, reuses or composts 60 per cent of its waste. Each store aims to increase this percentage every year. The first store to achieve nil waste to landfill was a Dorset store which now diverts 70 per cent of waste to composting.

Asda has spent £40 million on five purpose-built recycling facilities - including one in Wakefield - enabling its fleet of delivery trucks to collect cardboard and plastic packaging from the back of stores.

Last year the company recovered and recycled 160,000 tonnes of cardboard - eight per cent of the UK cardboard market, and 5,500 tonnes of plastic packaging from store waste.

The company aims to reduce carrier bag use by a quarter by the end of 2008. And over the next 12 months the company plans to cut the amount of packaging it uses on own-label food by 25 per cent.

It aims to substantially restrict the amount of pre-packed fruit and vegetables on sale, in favour of more fresh produce sold loose from boxes.

All the company's own-label products are being redesigned, with the aim of reducing the weight and volume of packaging they produce by at least ten per cent by the end of 2008.

Already, salad bags have been reduced in thickness by 15 per cent, and cardboard sleeves removed from some ready meals.