We have been working hard to remove plastic from across the business…but it doesn’t just stop at our packaging

When customers and colleagues think about how we are removing plastic from across our business, naturally they look at the packaging on their favourite items, as they add them to their basket.

Of course, we continue to work tirelessly with our colleagues and suppliers to develop new and innovative ways to re-design packaging to take out as many pieces of plastic as we can. We are also working on a whole range of initiatives to help reduce the amount of plastic we use across Asda and our supply base.

One area where we have made good progress, but might not immediately spring to mind, is on instore signage. Last year, we removed nearly 300,000 pieces of plastic from across our stores, from signs that talk to customers about our great prices and quality, to big banners which shout out our latest offers, we’ve continued to look at where we can reduce, re-use or make our signs recyclable.

As part of this huge plastic saving, we’ve rolled out initiatives such as making our free-standing sales units 100% recyclable. We have done this by replacing the plastic price holders with sticky glue dots, which in return removed 1 million pieces of plastic whilst still ensuring our customers can clearly see our great prices. We have also removed plastic mop trays from the bottom of these cardboard display units and by doing this we have stripped out another 60,000 pieces of plastic!

Check out our first to market 100% recyclable free-standing units next time you are in store. They are usually used to promote new branded products or can be seen filled with the latest bestselling books.

We know our customers are extremely passionate about sustainability and we look to remove plastic wherever we can, but sometimes there is no alternative, which is why, wherever possible, we try our best to make sure the plastic we use is recycled and/or recyclable.

We have recently implemented a new recycling stream for our outdoor car park banners and bollard cover signs which need to be on plastic for durability in all weathers, this will help us recycle 218,000 pieces of plastic per year.

To help support our colleagues, we have now added recycling logos to all our in-store signage, so when it comes to taking it down to put new information up, they know exactly how to recycle it in store.
This year, we’re looking at how we can make our security sensor signage, shelf edge signs and window graphics even more sustainable, because we know these subtle changes are going to have big impacts on us as a business in meeting our plastic reduction targets.