Customers in ten large Tesco stores in the east of England will be able to buy products in reusable packaging that can be returned to store when finished so it can be cleaned, refilled and used again.
The new reusable range of 88 products will include brands such as Persil, Fever-Tree, Carex, Tetley Tea and BrewDog. Tesco said it has included 35 own brand essentials in the range, such as pasta, rice, oil and sugar, with more products are set to be added to the range throughout the year.
Customers that wish to opt for reusable packaging can visit the Loop fixture in the store and add the products they want into their trolley. The Loop range comes ready prefilled so there is no need for customers to bring their own containers or refill themselves.
Reuseable product
Tesco said that prices for the contents of each item are comparable to the original. A fully refundable deposit starting at £0.20 is paid on each reusable product at checkout and this is refunded via an app when the customer returns the packaging to a collection point in the store.
The supermarket chain said that if customers in the 10 stores switched their recyclable tomato ketchup, cola and washing up liquid bottles to the reusable Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Coca Cola and Ecover alternatives, the packaging would be used and reused more than two and a half million times a year.
“We are determined to tackle plastic waste and one of the ways we can help is by improving reuse options available to customers,” said Ken Murphy, Tesco Group ceo.
“Bringing Loop to our stores is a significant milestone in this journey. With 88 everyday products available, we’re giving customers a wide range of options and we’ll learn as much as we can from this to inform our future packaging plans.”
Consumer reaction
Tom Szaky, founder and ceo of Loop and TerraCycle, said: "The consumer reaction to Loop in these first Tesco stores will prove pivotal in refining the Loop offering and ultimately we hope to scale reuse across more stores and the number of product lines available. Tesco is the perfect partner to bring Loop to retail in the UK due to its commitment to sustainability, in combating plastics waste and in its operational scale as the UK’s biggest grocery retailer.”
The launch of Loop in Tesco stores follows a year-long online pilot, launched in July 2020, that allowed customers to order and return products in reusable packaging to and from their doorstep.
The full list of brands available in store at launch are: Alberto Balsam, Bisto, BrewDog, Bulldog Skincare, Carex, Coca Cola, Dr Will’s, Ecover, Fever-Tree, Finish, Good4U, Hardys, Mackays, Heinz, Meridian, Mud House, Naked Noodle, Original Source, Persil, Quaker Oats, Radox, Simple, Sipsmith and Tetley.
