Tesco goes green with plastic bottles

If you buy a bottle of alcohol from Tesco you may be surprised by the container. The UK supermarket giant is trialling the use of plastic bottles for its own-brand spirits range as well as lightweight glass bottles for its range of wine products.

The change is part of the company’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from packaging according to marketing news website Brand Republic. According to Tesco, by switching to plastic for its own-label brandy they have achieved an 86% in carbon emissions. This is part of an ongoing attempt by the company to work with suppliers to cut their product packaging on nearly 4,000 items produced under their own brand label.

Tesco’s new wine bottles, claimed to the ‘lightest ever’ by the company, are the result of a project with waste reduction body WRAP and industry suppliers. They weigh just 300g – 30% lighter than the previous own label bottles – meaning that each year nearly 560 tonnes of glass could be saved.

As well as reducing packaging, Tesco is attempting to reduce carbon emissions by encouraging customers to reduce food waste with a range of “Buy one, get one free later” deals which were trialled in January this year. This activity applied to purchases of pineapples, salads and lettuces over a two-week trial period; customer feedback is currently under review and if positive, this type of promotion may become common in the many supermarkets operated by Tesco.

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