Supermarket Waste

Co-op to reduce landfill through pizza packaging

The supermarket giant has announced that it is to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by remodelling its pizza packaging.

By simply removing the polystyrene discs that are placed within the boxes of 17 pizzas across its range, the supermarket will stop 200 tonnes of polystyrene going to landfill every year.

Another positive is that 450 tonnes of recyclable material will also be created as a result.

Iain Ferguson, environment manager said:

Pizza discs have been high on our priority list for some time, and we’ve been working hard to find the right replacement.

“This change is a major step in our journey to make all of our packaging easy to recycle, and we will be making further announcements on packaging in the months ahead.”

The change to pizza boxes comes as the supermarket plans to overhaul its own brand packaging, hoping to make every bit of it recyclable.

A vote is set for May 20 at the Co-op’s annual general meeting to confirm the plans.

Late last year the supermarket pledged to make its own brand packaging 80 per cent renewable by 2020 after research found that two-thirds of all plastic packaging in the UK gets sent to either landfill or incineration plants.

Only last week MPs urged both supermarkets and the Government to do more to tackle the UK’s food waste issues, which result in £10 billion worth of food being thrown away by households every year.

Andy has worked as a freelance journalist for a number of years and has been published in some of the UK’s top newspapers. He is now the editor Commercial Waste Magazine and contributes to a large selection of headlines and blog articles on the site.

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