UK first: Reusable, compostable carrier bags to be rolled out across UK Co-op stores

24 Sep 2018 --- UK supermarket Co-op will see around 60 million plastic carrier bags removed in a phased rollout and replaced with a compostable alternative. The supermarket worked with Novamount and Flexopack on the development of the compostable bag which can be used to carry shopping home and then be re-used as food waste caddy liners. The compostable bags will be introduced to almost 1,400 Co-op food stores, initially in towns, cities and villages where the bags are accepted in food waste collections. 

The move is part of a new hard-hitting ethical strategy to be launched later this week by the Co-op. The blue-print sets out how the Co-op will ban single-use own-brand plastic products and reduce its overall use of plastic packaging within five years and stop using hard to recycle materials, such as black plastic.

“Our members and customers expect us to help them to make more ethical choices, and we are dedicated to doing just that. It is, and always has been, at the core of our efforts. The bags are carefully designed to help local authorities with food waste recycling, supporting their community and resident engagement and reducing plastic contamination in a targeted way,” Iain Ferguson, Environment Manager, Co-op tells PackagingInsights.

The bags are touted as having the same strength as standard plastic, single-use carriers and will cost the same price: 5p. The change will initially be available at stores where compostable carriers are accepted in food waste collections and the Co-op will be speaking to the remaining local councils to seek to extend coverage to more stores.

The Co-op’s pledge on plastic will see all its own-brand packaging become easy to recycle by 2023. It has promised to use a minimum of 50 percent recycled plastic in bottles, pots, trays and punnets by 2021.

All own-brand black and dark plastic packaging, including black ready meal trays, will be eliminated by 2020.

The Co-op’s initiative to ditch single-use plastics will see it increase recyclable packaging and materials. Almost three out of four products that the Co-op makes are now widely recyclable, which accounts for 95 percent of its products when measured by weight. 

It has reduced hard to recycle plastics, such as pizza discs, sushi bases and cooked meat packaging but promises to go further. Its reductions in plastic use, combined with its new pledge on carrier bags, is the equivalent to 125 million plastic water bottles being taken out of production, according to the supermarket.

“The first step to remove single-use plastic, will be to launch compostable carrier bags in our stores. They are a simple but ingenious way to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic shopping bags,” says Jo Whitfield, Retail Chief Executive at Co-op.

When asked by PackagingInsights why the store did not remove all plastic bags – compostable or not – the supermarket replied that consumers often make last-minute purchases, and without the option of a 5p carrier bag customers could be driven to use the heavier plastic “bag for life” as a single-use bag.

UK supermarkets have demonstrated high levels of dedication to achieving plastic reduction targets. Also last week, Lidl announced that it will remove black plastic from its entire fruit and vegetable range by the end of September, due to black plastic not being recyclable in the UK. In a UK first, supermarket Iceland is set to remove all plastic packaging from its bananas – a move that is anticipated to save 10 million plastic bags a year. 

In further compostable news, compostable and renewable packaging film specialists Futamura grabbed headlines at Packaging Innovations 2018 in London earlier this month with its 100 percent plastic-free, compostable crisp bag made from barrier film NatureFlex. PackagingInsights was there reporting from the floor. Read the coverage here. 

By Laxmi Haigh