Sainsbury’s is switching from plastic to pulp cardboard trays for its own-brand salmon and trout products in a UK retailer first – a move expected to reduce plastic by 70%.
The new packaging, which is made from sugarcane pulp and lined with polyethylene film, is set to save 346 tonnes of plastic a year.
Alongside the alternative packs, which can be recycled at home, the grocer is rolling out cardboard trays across its fresh breaded chicken and fresh Taste the Difference breaded fish.
This change is set to save an additional 300 tonnes of plastic a year across breaded fish and chicken and 48 tonnes across the Taste the Difference breaded fish.
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Sainsbury’s director of product and innovation Claire Hughes said: “With salmon being one of our most popular fish, we made it a priority to reduce the plastic on the packaging of this much loved product as we work towards our ‘Plan for Better’ goals.
“We are now the first retailer to make the move to have recycled pulp card trays across all our By Sainsbury’s and Taste the Difference salmon products, enabling a whopping 70% plastic reduction. Together with changes to our breaded fish and chicken packaging, we are set to save 694 tonnes of plastic a year – a significant step towards our plastic reduction goals.”
Over the summer, the new packaging will be expanded across seasonal chicken and fish favourites, including the grocer’s finger food and BBQ range, such as breaded goujons and nuggets.
It marks the latest in a sting of sustainability changes made by Sainsbury’s as part of its commitment to reduce own-brand plastic packaging. At the start of the year it became the first retailer in the UK to replace its plastic packaging with cardboard for all own-brand mushrooms.
