“Every shopper in the UK” will have access to refillable groceries in a large supermarket or with a delivery service under plans by some of the country’s biggest grocers.
Waitrose, Ocado, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and the supply-chain company CHEP have joined a refillable grocery partnership and plan to roll out both unpackaged options in-store and pre-filled mini bulk containers for home deliveries which customers then return at their next delivery date.
These grocers are part of the Refill Coalition group, run by Unpackaged, a company that runs refill stations in stores including Planet Organic and in some independent local farm shops. The supermarkets plan to start the rollout by the end of the year.
Supermarkets are starting their refill lines with dry goods such as pasta, rice, cereals, seeds, grains, nuts and dried fruits; and will also offer household and personal care products such as washing-up liquid, laundry liquid, shampoo, and handwash.
There are 56.5bn units of single-use plastic packaging sold annually in the UK, according to Greenpeace. About 99% of plastic packaging is also made from fossil fuels.
Catherine Conway, the founder of Unpackaged said: “Working together to create a universal system gives us the best chance of scaling refills so they become accessible to every shopper in the UK, as we know consumers want less single-use plastic packaging on the items they buy.
“An industry-wide approach will lead to a refill system that works for everyone in the supply chain and will make refilling easier for shoppers.”
Supermarkets including Waitrose and M&S are trialling some refill stations in a handful of branches. The consumer group Which? found that items in the scheme were on average about 10-15% cheaper when loose.
M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Waitrose & Partners and CHEP said in a joint statement: “We’re delighted to be joining forces with the mutual objective of reducing single-use plastic packaging. The universal end-to-end solution being developed by the Refill Coalition presents a landmark opportunity for us to make a step change in the commercialisation of refills which we know can play a significant role in the reduction of single-use plastic packaging.”
Conway added: “This is the first step towards the fundamental removal of large quantities of single-use plastic packaging from regular grocery shopping – if we can make refills more available and affordable for shoppers, I am in no doubt that this will become a commonplace way of shopping in the future across all retailers, in the UK and farther afield.”