Morrisons is introducing new simple front-of-pack recycling scheme to help customers recycle more packaging.
The scheme will initially feature on 400 lines, which account for over 500 million items sold by the supermarket per year. It will be rolled out across other products where appropriate.
Under the scheme, Morrisons is the first supermarket to invite customers to bring recyclable plastic packaging[1] back to all stores, which is not widely taken at kerbside.
The new scheme makes it clear using two front-of-pack icons if the packaging can be recycled at home or at store:
- A ‘Please Recycle Me’ icon appears on packaging that can be recycled at home – such as plastic milk and drink bottles.
- Whilst a ‘Recycle Me In Store’ icon features on bags – such as bread and potatoes, and films – such as 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 large recycling bins positioned at the front of all of its stores for its customers – which will accept all recyclable plastic bags, films and wraps. The supermarket will recycle this plastic in the UK and turn it into recyclable carrier bags and bin bags – in a ‘closed loop’ system.
The move follows new researchii by Morrisons which shows that two thirds of customers are not confident whether they can recycle some plastics – including fruit and veg bags (64%), plastic wrap around toilet rolls (66%), and plastic bread bags (62%). However, the research also revealed that 90 per cent of customers are more likely to recycle if there is a simple clear message on front of packaging – letting people know how to recycle it.
