Asda has become the latest supermarket to join the war against plastic by pledging to reduce it “wherever” it can, including slashing the amount in its own-brand packaging by 10% in the next 12 months.
In a series of measures, Asda promised to scrap 5p carrier bags in all stores by the end of the year, switch 2.4m plastic straws used in its cafes to paper and introduce reusable drinks cups in its shops and cafes by the end of 2019.
“Where we are able to go faster and harder to remove avoidable plastics from our products, we will,” said Asda chief executive Roger Burnley. “Our logic is to remove plastic wherever we can, and where it is required, to make it as recyclable as possible.”
Why is plastic being demonised?
Since the 1950s, 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced. Plastic is seen as a versatile, indispensable product, but the environmental impact is becoming more stark. Plastic is now so pervasive that recycling systems cannot keep up and the leakage into the environment is such that by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish. In 2017 scientists found plastic fibres in tap water, and plastic has been found in the stomachs of sea creatures in the deepest part of the ocean. Most plastic waste ends up in landfill sites or leaks into the natural environment, where it is causing huge damage to eco-systems on land and sea, creating near permanent contamination. According to academics in the United States, by 2015, of all the plastic waste generated since the 1950s, only 9% has been recycled, with 12% incinerated and 79% accumulated in landfill sites or the environment.
Why are the supermarkets under fire?
Producers of plastic include retailers, drinks companies and supermarkets. Supermarkets create more than half of the plastic waste in the household stream in the UK. But they refuse to reveal how much they put on to the streets and how much they pay towards recycling it. Supermarkets are under pressure to reduce their plastic packaging and campaigners argue they have the power to turn off the tap. Much of the packaging they sell to consumers is not recyclable: plastic film, black plastic trays, sleeves on drinks bottles and some coloured plastic. The Recycling Association and other experts believe supermarkets could do much more to make packaging 100% recyclable and reduce the use of plastic.
Who pays to clean up the waste?
The taxpayer, overwhelmingly. UK producers and retailers pay among the lowest towards recycling and dealing with their waste in Europe. In other countries, the “polluter” is forced to pay much more. In France, a sliding system of charges means those who put more non- recyclable material on the market pay more.
What can shoppers do to help?
Supermarkets are under pressure, not least from the prime minister, to create plastic-free aisles. A growing number of zero-waste shops are springing up and consumers are being encouraged to ask for products to be sold without plastic.
Sandra Laville
The initiative comes after a Guardian investigation exposed how supermarkets are coming under growing pressure to reveal the amount of plastic they create, and pay more towards its safe disposal.
Amid mounting concern about the devastating environmental impact of plastic pollution around the globe, the Guardian revealed in January that the UK’s leading supermarkets create almost 1m tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year.
Asda was among leading retailers which refused to reveal the exact amount of waste they trigger, saying the information was “commercially sensitive”.
Last year, the former boss of the chain, owned by US company Walmart, called for supermarkets to stop using plastic packaging and said billions of pounds of investment in recycling had failed to resolve the plastic crisis.
Andy Clarke, Asda’s chief executive for six years, said the only solution was for retailers to reject plastic entirely in favour of alternatives such as paper, steel, glass and aluminium.
In January Iceland became the first major UK retailer to commit to eliminating plastic packaging for all its own-brand products, pledging to go plastic-free within five years.
Environmental groups said Asda’s move did not go far enough. Friends of the Earth waste campaigner Julian Kirby said: “Asda’s pledge to slash plastic use is certainly very welcome – but why can’t it copy Iceland’s lead and ditch plastics from all its own-brand products? Supermarkets should pull the plug on plastic packaging altogether – a move advocated by former Asda boss, Andy Clarke.”
Trewin Restorick of the environmental charity Hubbub called for “a collaborative approach from retailers, manufactures and the recycling industry. We are in danger of too many piecemeal initiatives causing more consumer confusion without creating a solution at scale.”
Tisha Brown, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, commented: “A 10% reduction in own brand products over one year doesn’t beat Iceland’s pledge. If Asda applied the same tactic to reducing plastics as it does to competing on price, we’d be really impressed.”
