ASDA plan to scrap 5p plastic carrier bags in its store by the end of the year.

And as part of an effort to reduce plastic use, the supermarket is also intending to get rid of plastic cutlery and cups from their cafes and offices - bringing in cheap re-usable coffee cups instead.

ASDA chief executive Roger Burnley said: "Where we are able to go faster and harder to remove avoidable plastics from our products, we will," reports our sister paper The Mirror.

"Our logic is to remove plastic wherever we can, and where it is required, to make it as recyclable as possible."

What's changing

ASDA has said it will:

  • Remove 10% of plastic from its own brand packaging in the next 12 months and publishing regular updates for customers to follow its progress
  • Introduce a zero profit re-usable coffee cup to give customers a great value alternative to single use cups.
  • Remove all single use cups and plastic cutlery from its offices in 2018 and all its stores and cafes by the end of 2019.
  • Phase out 5p ‘single use’ carrier bags from its shops by the end of 2018 and introduce a donation to good causes from the sale of its “bags for life” so that charities don’t lose out.
  • Work in partnership with the UK’s leading experts in packaging technology at the Leeds Beckett University Retail Institute as well as one of Asda’s biggest UK suppliers, ABP, on priority projects to develop new alternatives to plastics and more recyclable materials.
  • Creating the Asda Plastic Ideas Hub, open to all from industry to individuals, offering a £10,000 award for every scaleable, workable idea that helps Asda to tackle its top plastic challenges – such as alternatives to plastic film.

And that's just the headline measures. Everything that can be changed, will be.

"We are going to change the polystyrene bases in our pizzas to cardboard, removing 178 tonnes of plastic from customers’ homes," Mr Burnley said.

"We’re also going to switch the 2.4 million plastic straws used in our cafes each year to paper. By changing our coloured drinks bottles to clear plastic, 500 more tonnes of plastic will be recycled.

We will eliminate single use coffee cups and plastic cutlery from our Home Offices completely by the end of this year.

"Plus, we’ll be launching a ‘zero profit’ reusable coffee cup to help customers reduce their reliance on single use cups while we work to remove these from our shops and cafes by the end of 2019."