Iceland adding recycling bins for soft plastic to Food Warehouse stores

Iceland has become the latest supermarket to launch recycling points for soft plastics, introducing the bins in 13 branches of The Food Warehouse.

The business plans to roll them out across The Food Warehouse’s estate of about 140 stores in the year ahead.

It gives customers a way to recycle soft plastics including carrier bags, bread bags, produce bags and magazine wraps.

With Wrap estimating fewer than 20% of local authorities can recycle soft plastics in household collections, a number of supermarkets have recently been adding recycling points for the material to stores. Tesco began rolling them out in March, Aldi launched them in 20 stores in May, and Sainsbury’s and Co-op also offer them.

Iceland said it would collect data on the amount and types of plastic left by customers ahead of the rollout.

“Reducing the production of plastic remains an absolute priority for Iceland and The Food Warehouse, but we are also keen to offer our customers a convenient solution for recycling the plastics they are not able to at home,” said Iceland MD Richard Walker.

“The bins will be rolled out across all The Food Warehouse stores and help us do our bit to ensure that the flexible plastic is reliably recycled and eventually contributes to a circular economy, thereby tackling plastic pollution.”