Tesco is swapping plastic for recyclable paper in its own-brand pocket tissue packs, a move that is set to save over 55 million pieces of soft plastic packaging.
It is the first of the UK’s supermarkets to make the change to its own-brand pocket tissues, a move that will save almost 35 tonnes of new soft plastic being created each year.
Tesco campaigns manager Courtney Pallett said: “Unlike boxes of tissues, the pocket version tends to be used on the go and can all too easily become litter.
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“The new paper packaging works just as well as the old plastic wrap but is more sustainable.”
Both the individual tissue packs and the wrap around Tesco multipacks of the tissues started moving into FSC-certified, paper packs from mid-December 2023.
The supermarket has removed nearly 2.2 billion pieces of plastic since 2019, the year in which it launched its 4Rs packaging strategy, also known as remove, reduce, re-use, recycle.
While not typically included in household kerb-side recycling collections, customers can drop off hard to recycle soft plastic at recycling points in large Tesco stores.