From: Packaging News

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched over 90 lines of loose fruit and vegetables free of plastic packaging and removed ‘best before’ date labels in a three-month trial.

M&S Tolworth / Lauren Nichols

The retailer is also planning to replacing plastic produce bags with paper ones and phasing out plastic barcode stickers in favour of eco-friendly alternatives across its stores.

M&S’ Tolworth store now has trained greengrocers advising customers as they select from two aisles of fruit and vegetables free of plastic packaging.

The includes hard fruit and veg like potatoes and bananas, as well as more perishable items such as soft fruits and berries, which will be retailed in compostable punnets.

M&S has also committed to launching additional lines of loose produce and more sustainable alternatives to plastic in every UK store, which it said could save 580 tonnes of plastic waste over two years alone.

The plan will involve replacing plastic produce bags with paper ones and phasing out plastic barcode stickers in favour of eco-friendly alternatives.

Louise Nicholls, Head of Food Sustainability, said: “We’re proud to launch a series of market-leading initiatives to help our customers take home less plastic. We know our customers want to play their part in cutting out plastic, while as a business our goal is to become zero-waste by 2025. That’s why we’re working hard to reduce the amount of plastic packaging we use without compromising on food quality and contributing to waste.

“Our trial at Tolworth is an important milestone in our plastic reduction journey and bringing back the traditional greengrocer will play a key part in educating our customers. Our plan is to create long-term impact in the future using tangible insights from the Tolworth store trial.”

Its ‘plastics plan’ aims to remove 1,000 tonnes of plastic packaging by Spring 2019.

Environmental group A Plastic Planet welcomed the move.

“We have been inundated with Marks & Spencer customers frustrated that they could not buy plastic free so this is great news that plastic free choice is coming their way,” said co-founder Sian Sutherland.

M&S said all of its packaging will be ‘widely recycled’ by 2022 in a bid to help customers to recycle more.