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The latest green initiative rolled out by Tesco is its "soft plastic" recycling scheme. It has introduced new recycling points in many stores, where customers can deposit old packaging, including pet food pouches, bread bags and crisp packets.
Currently, the soft plastic recycling points are available in 171 Tesco stores in south-west England and Wales, but plans are in the pipeline to roll out the scheme to all large stores across the UK. The nationwide roll-out comes after the initiative was trialled successfully in ten Tesco stores.
Soft plastics recycling
All soft plastics deposited at Tesco by customers will be collected at regular intervals and sent for recycling. Washed, sorted and processed, they can then be turned into new packaging for household products, food items and beauty products.
The pilot scheme saw customers return more than ten times the anticipated amount of plastics. Fruit and veg wrappers, bread bags, salad bags, crisp packets, pet food pouches and baby food packaging topped the list of items customers returned for recycling.
Currently, the soft plastics already collected have been used to produce food-grade packaging, including wrappers for Tesco's cheeses. Store bosses plan to collect around 1,000 tonnes of plastic every year through the scheme. Customers can return all their soft packaging to Tesco, regardless of whether they bought the products in the store or not.
Environmental charity WWF has welcomed the new recycling scheme, saying plastic pollution is one of the most serious symptoms of the current environmental crisis. A spokesperson said governments, businesses and consumers all had a role to play in tackling the issues.
The soft plastics recycling scheme is an extension of Tesco's existing recycling initiatives across its stores in the UK. The supermarket giant already has recycling stations in many of its branches, including deposit points for plastic carrier bags at the front of its stores.
What else can you recycle?
As well as plastic recycling, there are other materials you may not realise you can recycle. In addition to cold drinks cans, plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes and paper, you can also recycle old mobile phones, spectacles and even cigarette ends.
Perhaps the most surprising is cigarette waste. Some companies will collect the used packaging and the cigarette ends themselves to recycle into hard plastic. The packaging and cigarettes are each melted separately into plastic pellets that are then used to create various products.
Old toothbrushes can also be recycled if made of hard plastic. They are upcycled into useful products, such as school supplies.
Your laptop, tablet, mobile phone and most other electronic devices can also be recycled, so you don't become part of the e-waste problem. Rather than adding to the giant landfill mountain of 9.4 million tons of old electronic devices per year, find out where you can make good use of them.
If your device works properly, simply donate it to a non-profit group or even a school, where they can use it. If it's broken, take it to an electronics recycler, who will take it apart and reuse the materials and components inside.
Many empty containers from personal care products can be put in your regular recycling bin such as plastic shampoo, conditioner and body wash bottles. Wash them out thoroughly with clean water before putting them in the recycling bin.
Recycling your old spectacles can help someone who has a similar prescription - and not a lot of money! Even if you've had a couple of old pairs of glasses sitting in your bedside drawer for years, check online to see if there's somewhere in your local area where they can be put to good use.
Traditionally, there are some long-standing beliefs about what can and can't be recycled that have turned into a myth! For example, people commonly think you can't recycle aluminium foil – wrong!
Foil that has traces of food, grease or other packaging materials attached can damage the equipment at the recycling plant, so it wouldn't be accepted in this condition, but as long as it's clean, there should be no problem in recycling it.
Saving the planet
Recycling can help save the planet, as it reduces the need to grow, extract or harvest new raw materials. Environmental charity Friends of the Earth says this reduces the damage and harmful disruption to our planet.
If everyone recycled, fewer forests would be cut down and less rivers diverted. There would be less air pollution, water and soil would be purer and fewer wild animals would be physically harmed or homeless.
In recent years, the British public has got more involved in recycling, with 83% of consumers saying they support recycling, but they feel more needs to be done by the government, local authorities and supermarkets to help and encourage recycling initiatives.
People say one of the biggest problems that prevent them from recycling is a lack of local facilities, with councils not having a recycling collection service for certain items. Around 16% of Brits say they will recycle more if their local council starts collecting more types of recyclable waste.
In addition, 11% of UK residents say we need more local recycling plants in general. Other issues people cite when it comes to recycling is a lack of clear information on what their local plant will take.
Despite these issues, people are genuinely keen to recycle, so it's worth checking online to see what products and materials are being recycled in your local area.
If you’re not already onboard, start now by purchasing recycling bins that you can position at home and in the workplace. It’s down to all of us to play our part in saving this wonderful planet.
Good luck with all your recycling endeavours!