PLEASE JOIN ME IN ASKING TESCO TO STOP TRASHING THE PLANET WITH THEIR SINGLE-USE PLASTICS!
EMAIL ADDRESSES YOU CAN USE:
customer.services@tesco.co.uk OR customer.services@tesco.ie
TEMPLATE LETTER (or feel free to pen your own!):
Hi,
I’m writing to you to ask Tesco to please remove all single-use plastics from your fruit and veg aisle and provide all these products loose instead.
A selection of biodegradable, sustainably sourced single-use packaging options such as Recycled, unbleached paper bags, home-compostable bioplastic bags and recycled eggbox material punnets for small loose items like grapes and cherry tomatoes could be made available in-aisle for a small levy (I suggest 10c in Ireland) to encourage customers to simply bring their own reusable bags while allowing for the occasional convenience of temporary packaging. In European big chain retailers, self-weigh systems are in place where customers weigh their own loose produce as a matter of course. This may be an option if Tesco are worried about staff costs relating to check-out weighing systems.
It is evident from your stores that most of the single-use packaging you employ is for the benefit and convenience of Tesco and not for the customer or the planet. Unit items such as cucumbers, red cabbages and celeriac are wrapped purely so that a bar code can be displayed and to save in-store waste. This is completely unsustainable and must be discontinued.
I understand that Tesco will need to make large changes to stocking practices, logistics and staffing in order to make this commitment but it is necessary to stop the terrible problem of plastic pollution the planet is engulfed in. Tesco is a culprit on a vast scale and your customers are starting to wake up and see that this plastic waste is not theirs, but yours. The planet and human health are footing the bill for your continued reliance on single use plastics and it must end.
On a side-note, I’m not writing to you to get the standard response that your are making your packaging “recyclable” by 2025. This is not a sustainable approach and does not go far enough towards solving your waste problem: you’re going to have to stop producing the stuff in the first place with a radical overhaul of your practices.
Please take responsibility for implementing this change as soon as possible and across all your stores: the health and wellbeing of the planet, as well as your present and future customers, relies on it.
I await a response.
Many thanks,
RESPONSE:
Many thanks for your email which has been passed to me for response. We really appreciate your feedback and will of course pass this onto the relevant team.
We know that packaging plays an important role in protecting products and reducing food waste – but it shouldn’t come at an unaffordable cost to the planet. As a business we remain dedicated to doing the right thing. Our target is to ensure we never use more packaging than is needed, and what we do use is from sustainable sources and goes on to be reused or recycled. Our packaging commitments set out below reflect this:
• Our packaging will be fully recyclable by 2025
• End the use of hard to recycle materials from our packaging by the end of 2019
• All paper and board used will be 100% sustainable by 2025
• Halve packaging weight by 2025
Our Progress
We are already making progress against our commitments in many markets and will look to accelerate this to achieve our targets sooner where possible. Our product teams are developing innovative packaging plans and some examples of this work include a 20% reduction in the weight of packaging for Tesco Baby Wet Wipes; changes to our Tesco finest steaks packs which has reduced packaging by 20 tonnes per year and the removal of pads from our Tesco Mince which has reduced the packaging weight by five tonnes per year. As part of making all our packaging materials recyclable, we will have fully removed non-recyclable or hard to recycle packaging materials by the end of 2019 in our Own Brand products. In addition, Tesco is the first retailer to publish a breakdown of materials in our packaging. This approach is how we will ensure we are on track to deliver our strategy and how our customers can judge progress.
In relation to the specific point on single use packaging, we offer loose produce as well as packaged fruit and vegetables. Pre-packing helps preserve the produce and helps us to reduce food waste as well as providing a method for containing pre-weighed products. Nevertheless, we always look to minimise packaging where possible as per the above commitments.
Our strategic priorities
We only use packaging where it serves a clear purpose. We are a member of Repak which has led the way in improving recycling levels in Ireland and we are proud to have signed the Repak Packaging Pledge.
Our strategic priorities to help reduce packaging waste include:
1. Materials and design: In collaboration with our suppliers we can reduce and simplify the types of materials we use in our packaging so that less is used and packaging is easier for customers to recycle. We have reviewed every material used in our Own Brand packaging and as a result of our review and consultation process with our suppliers, we have developed a preferred material list for our product packaging – www.tescoplc.com/little-helps-plan/products-packaging/preferred-material-list/. Removing hard to recycle materials such as PVC and Polystyrene simplifies the recycling process, including reducing contamination of materials that can be recycled into new packaging.
2. Recovery and recycling: We are a member of Repak and we continue to work with the industry to explore all the potential solutions to remove, reduce and recycle packaging.
3. Changing customer behaviour: We working to help customers recycle more with simple, clear and consistent information on packaging.
Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us. For more information on our commitment to reduce packaging, please see our website: https://sustainability.tescoplc.com/sustainability/packaging/
Kind regards,
Denise Barry
“In relation to the specific point on single use packaging, we offer loose produce as well as packaged fruit and vegetables. Pre-packing helps preserve the produce and helps us to reduce food waste as well as providing a method for containing pre-weighed products. Nevertheless, we always look to minimise packaging where possible as per the above commitments.” – You are NOT minimising packaging where possible, you are maximising your own profits at the expense of the planet.
You offer plastic-packaged versions at far cheaper prices than your loose versions. I took this picture in Tesco in Cork last week: 2 courgettes packaged in TWO types of single use plastic for €1.78 per kilo and loose courgettes for €3.29 per kilo. You are incentivising plastic pollution for your own profit.
“We only use packaging where it serves a clear purpose.”
None of this packaging I have photographed here serves any purpose for the consumer. It is forcing them to buy multi-packs rather than choose their own desired quantity of products; this may offset your in-store food waste but it adds to domestic food waste. What on earth is the purpose behind plastic-wrapping cucumbers, other than to lower your staff costs by speeding up till time with barcodes, and to avoid inconvenient measures such as staff training in handling fruit and veg?! This is an absolute disgrace and a completely unethical burden on your customers, who have to pay to dispose of your terrible packaging choices or else suffer their presence in the environment.
“Changing customer behaviour: We working to help customers recycle more with simple, clear and consistent information on packaging.” Customers shouldn’t have to deal with Tesco’s pollution for profit. Tesco needs to change its behaviour.
I reiterate: I am asking Tesco to instate completely loose fruit and veg aisles as per my last mail. Yes, this will change supply chain management, over-stocking practices and staffing levels. But Tesco has been profiting from plastic pollution for long enough.
In short, your response is a disgrace. Please refer me to your superior so that I can address it with them. I am copying CEO Kari Daniels in on this mail; she didn’t respond to my last mail but she may respond now.
yours in disappointment,
Ellie O’Byrne
the plastic letters project 