'Soft' plastic now recycled at Tesco Newbury

Cling film and bread bags among the items now being recycled

All Tesco branches in Newbury will be accepting 'soft' plastics for recycling, it has been announced.

Customers will now be able to deposit cling film, crisp packets and salad bags at designated collection points in the local Extra, Metro and Superstore branches.

A Berkshire Tesco spokesperson said: "We know that a lot of our customers want to reduce their plastic packaging waste so we are expecting the new soft plastics recycling point to prove popular.

"It will be a really visible sign in store of what we are doing to reduce the impact of plastic packaging."

Most councils across the UK, including West Berkshire Council, do not collect soft plastics in their kerbside recycling as a matter of routine, so much of this material ends up in landfill.

The new collection system, being rolled out at Tesco stores nationwide, is billed as the first of its kind in Britain.

Waste plastics are washed and processed into new packaging.

Trials in Bristol and Swindon saw a positive community response, with 10 times the amount of plastic returned to Tesco stores.

Among the materials recyclable under the scheme are bread bags, fruit and vegetable packaging, crisp packets, salad bags and baby and pet food pouches.

WWF sustainable materials specialist Paula Chin said: "Plastic pollution is one of the most visible symptoms of the environmental crisis and is devastating our natural world.

"Businesses, governments and households have all got an important part to play in tackling the issue, so it's encouraging to see Tesco extending their successful soft plastics collection trial across more of their stores, giving their customers even more opportunity to recycle these valuable materials."