Tesco bans plastic bags from online orders

Tesco is set to stop using carrier bags to deliver online groceries.

It says that 250 million fewer carrier bags will be delivered to customers’ homes each year and nearly 2,000 tonnes of plastic will come out of production annually. The move follows 28 weeks of trials involving 33 stores.

Tesco Quality Director, Sarah Bradbury, says: “We’re looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use. We know it’s an important issue for customers, colleagues and our business and we know we have to do more. Removing carrier bags from our online shopping is one of the many ways we are making changes to help customers reduce their use of plastic.”

“Right now, we’re reviewing all our packaging, including plastic, looking to remove where possible. Where it’s not right to remove we will reduce, help customers reuse and ensure all packaging can be recycled. Our scale means a simple, straightforward change can have such a big impact.”

Asda

Earlier this month, Asda announced that it would be the first UK supermarket to stop providing single use plastic carrier bags with its online grocery orders.

Following a trial period in South West England and from its Dartford home shopping centre, it will remove the option on all grocery home shopping and Click & Collect orders nationwide from 31st July, resulting in a saving of over 500 tonnes of plastic. It stopped offering single use bags in its stores in 2018 and says that in total it will now produce 375 million fewer plastic bags each year.

As will be the case with Tesco, shoppers will now get their goods delivered in crates, with drivers offering to unload them in a convenient place as part of the change.