Tesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottles

Supermarket giant Tesco has begun trialling in-store recycling machines to encourage customers to recycle their plastic bottles.
Tesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottlesTesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottles
Tesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottles

The machines, being trialled in Borehamwood, Swansea, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester will pay customers 10p for every bottle returned.

Similar schemes are already in operation in some Scandinavian countries, as well as Germany, and some states in the US and Canada.

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Tesco is also allowing customers to reuse their own multi-use plastic containers when they buy meat, cheese or fish from deli and fish counters in UK stores.

Tesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottlesTesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottles
Tesco trials money-back scheme on plastic bottles

Instead of using single-use plastic bags, products will be weighed and wrapped in recyclable paper then placed inside the customer’s container.

Jason Tarry, UK and ROI CEO, said: “We are already committed to eliminating single use plastic wherever we can and make recycling simpler for customers. Today is another step in that direction.

“However, we know that it is going to take retailers, manufacturers and government to work together to make progress. We would urge the government to move to a single, nationwide approach to waste collection that makes it much easier for people to recycle.”

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Earlier this year Tesco announced its intention to simplify the number of materials it used in packaging to help improve the ease and rate of recyclability. It also highlighted the challenges of having different collection schemes in different local authority areas making it costly and confusing for customers to recycle.