Tesco is rolling out collection points for soft plastic packaging like crisp packets, pet food pouches and bread bags at stores in England and Wales. The supermarket chain is aiming to establish a nationwide recycling network for these harder to process plastics. Currently most soft plastic ends up in landfill. The recycled material will be used to package food, household and beauty products, Tesco said. The supermarket said it prioritised reducing the plastic packaging it used, but that the new service would also have "a real impact". The roll-out will start with new collection points at 171 stores in the south west of England and in Wales. During a 10-store trial in 2018 Tesco said the most commonly returned packaging was bread bags, fruit and vegetable packaging, crisp packets, salad bags, and baby and pet food pouches. Customers may return packaging bought from other retailers as well as Tesco's own packaging, however they will need to clean items that are heavily soiled and take them back to participating stores, while the rest of their recycling is collected at the kerbside. Tesco said it expected to collect 1,000 tonnes of soft plastic a year.One estimate suggests UK supermarkets produce 800,000 tonnes of plastic every year, although they don't make figures publicly available.
