Asda has opened its new, sustainable test store and proposed a new plastics reduction strategy. In addition, the UK supermarket chain is promising that customers will never pay more for the greener options.
Partners
The new store in Middleton (Leeds) avoids plastic packaging as much as possible and encourages re-use and recycling. Asda estimates that the numerous initiatives being tried will save one million pieves of plastic a year. To develop the store, the supermarket chain has set up a partnership with major brands such as PG Tips, Vimto, Kellogg’s, Radox and Persil. Asda especially hopes to learn a lot and to find out which elements of the new range will appeal most to customers and could possibly be rolled out elsewhere.
To encourage customers to shop sustainably, the supermarket chain is also launching a national price promise under the slogan ‘Greener at Asda Price’: loose and unwrapped products will not cost more than wrapped equivalents.
Refill stations
The new store includes 15 large refill stations for some popular brands such as Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats, Lavazza and Taylors or Harrogate. Rice and pasta from Asda’s own brand can also be purchased in bulk. Furthermore, a lot of brands and products of, for example, Unilever are available in refill packaging.
Fruit and vegetables are sold unpackaged if possible. This is for example the case for cauliflower, mushrooms, apples, cabbage and cherry tomatoes. All plants and flowers are also available unpackaged or in paper packaging only.
In line with the opening of the new sustainability store, Asda presented its new sustainability strategy. The company wants to be completely climate neutral by 2040 at the latest. In the fight against plastic waste, the chain promises to remove 3 billion pieces of plastic from its private label products by 2025. Finally, the retailer has also pledged to introduce more than 40 refillable products by 2023 and to invest in 50 closed and circular projects by 2030, in close cooperation with waste management companies, recyclers and product developers.
