British retailer Tesco has removed over 20 million pieces of plastic from this year’s Christmas private brand range. Crackers, lights, cards, and puddings (desserts)  have all been produced using less single-use plastic:

• Tesco’s private brand crackers are plastic-free for the first time – they will include non-plastic presents and are now sold without plastic in cardboard packaging. This cuts over 14 million pieces of plastic from the seasonal range.
• 312,000 Christmas lights will instead be sold in recyclable cardboard packaging.
• Packs of Christmas cards are now free from plastic: multipacks of cards are now sold in a recyclable cardboard box – a decision which saves 4.6 million pieces of plastic a year.
• A layer of plastic has been removed from Christmas puddings and sponges – a decision that removes 1.78 million pieces of plastic.

Tesco has also stopped using glitter for all single-use products and packaging. Wrapping paper, gift bags, cards and crackers are all now glitter-free and widely recyclable.

Recent research from Tesco found that three quarters (74%) of us will have sustainability in mind when making purchasing decisions – an increase of 36% year-on-year. The research also found that 51% of the nation will reuse old Christmas decorations, a third (32%) will only buy loose fruit and veg to reduce plastic packaging. Nearly a quarter (23%) will reuse wrapping paper while 19% will try to be more sustainable by not buying gifts, wrapping or decorations made of plastic.

Tesco Quality Director, Sarah Bradbury said: “It is an absolute priority of ours to remove and reduce the amount of plastic in our stores to the minimum and ensure everything we use is recycled and kept out of the environment – Christmas time is no exception and we want to do our bit to help customers have more sustainable celebrations.”

The removal of plastic from Christmas products comes as development teams across Tesco have been looking for ways to use less plastic as a part of its 4Rs packaging strategy: To Remove it where it can. Reduce where it can’t. Reuse more. Recycle what’s left. This will see Tesco remove all excess and non-recyclable material from its business.