UK ‘big four’ supermarket group Morrisons has unveiled a new labelling scheme which is encouraging customers to bring product packaging back to store to be recycled where necessary.
The scheme, using front-of-pack icons, also spells out when film, sleeves, trays, or bottles can be recycled at home.
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Initially the icons will feature on 400 lines, which account for more than 500 million items sold by the supermarket per year. It will be rolled out across other products at a later date.
Morrisons claims to be the first supermarket to invite customers to bring recyclable plastic packaging back to all stores, when it is not widely collected at kerbside.
A ‘Please Recycle Me’ icon appears on packaging that can be recycled at home, such as plastic milk and drink bottles, while a ‘Recycle Me In Store’ icon features on bags, such as those used on bread and potatoes, and film, such as that used on toilet roll, which can’t be widely recycled at kerbside.
Additionally, labels on the back-of-pack give detail on all of the packaging components used, clarifying whether they can be recycled and where.
Morrisons has positioned large recycling bins at the front of all of its stores for its customers which will accept all recyclable plastic bags, films and wraps.
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By GlobalDataThe supermarket group said it will recycle this plastic in the UK and turn it into recyclable carrier bags and bin bags.
Its move follows research it has carried out which shows that two thirds of customers are not confident whether they can recycle some plastics.
Natasha Cook, packaging manager at Morrisons, said: “Our customers tell us they want us to reduce packaging, and where we can’t remove it they want to recycle it.”
She added: “The new clear ‘at-a-glance’ labels on the back of our packaging is also designed to help our customers recycle – whether pots, tubs, trays, bags, film, bottles or glass.”
Morrisons is one of the original signatories to environmental organisation WRAP’s UK Plastics PACT. Initiatives introduced by the supermarket over the last 12 months will remove 9,000 tonnes of unnecessary or problematic plastic a year, it said.
