UK retailer Waitrose will swap plastic bags for fruit and vegetables for a compostable alternative and eliminate 5p plastic shopping bags in 2019. Waitrose said a trial of the compostable bags would be carried out across selected stores, while the 5p plastic bags will be removed from six shops initially, beginning on 8 October, before both schemes are rolled out nationally next year. The supermarket said the move would lead to an annual saving of 500 tonnes of plastic. Tor Harris said: “The removal of these bags will change the way our customers, many of whom have been asking us to do this, shop with us in the future. A study by Greenpeace found that more than half of all food waste is not recycled, with only one third being reused or reprocessed.
UK retailer Waitrose will swap plastic bags for fruit and vegetables for a compostable alternative and eliminate 5p plastic shopping bags in 2019. Waitrose said a trial of the compostable bags would be carried out across selected stores, while the 5p plastic bags will be removed from six shops initially, beginning on 8 October, before both schemes are rolled out nationally next year. The supermarket said the move would lead to an annual saving of 500 tonnes of plastic. A study by Greenpeace found that more than half of all food waste is not recycled, with only one third being reused or reprocessed.