As part of our commitment to reduce plastic waste we’re launching a new kind of packaging on our fresh chicken that will cut plastic waste by 450 tonnes every year.
From early April, we’ll begin to switch out the hard plastic trays for soft pouches across our Butchers Selection and Farm Stores lines, following a successful trial last year on our 250g and 500g packs of diced chicken breasts and mini chicken fillets.
We first began with a trial on diced chicken breast and fillets to see how our customers reacted to the move and following some great feedback across the 68-store trial, we have taken the decision to make the move across all our lines, including drumsticks, thighs and whole birds which will be completed by the middle of summer.
It’s something we’re excited about launching, with 91%* of the population adding chicken to their shop each week, the move has the ability to make a real impact on our ambitions to cut plastic from our packaging, wherever possible.
Working with our supplier to help us look at innovative ways to reduce plastic use, we’ve come up with these sealable, soft plastic bags – moving away from the clear plastic trays - which at one time was the only option to house the poultry across the industry.
We’ve also thought about hygiene, with the new packs you don’t have to handle the raw poultry at all, It’s really easy to use – you just rip the pack open and pour the chicken straight into the pan or oven tray. The packs are automatically filled by a machine too, so there’s no risk of contaminating the outside of the pack by handling it either.
The new move means our customers no longer have to choose between a great valued product and the more sustainable option, something we’re really proud of as we continue the journey to remove as many pieces of plastic from across our business as we can.
