Tesco has announced a trial to remove packaging from toothpaste, backed by all the major UK brands.
The supermarket said it was hoping to “banish” the unnecessary packaging for good.
Tesco has already removed packaging from its own brand toothpaste products, since November last year, which it said saved 55 tonnes of cardboard a year.
But it said that could be dwarfed if the new trial was a success, with the potential for 680 tonnes of cardboard a year to be taken out of circulation.
The new trial will take place in nearly 30 Tesco stores across the UK and is backed by Colgate, Oral-B, Sensodyne, Aquafresh and Corsodyl.
If successful it will be rolled out across all Tesco stores.
The move is the latest in Tesco’s four Rs packaging strategy to tackle the impact of packaging waste. Since its launch in August 2019, Tesco has reduced packaging by more than 3,000 tonnes from its annual footprint.
“We made a bold move to remove un-needed toothpaste boxes last November on our own brand and have had positive feedback from customers,” said Tesco oral care buyer Felicity Bexton.
“Now we are working with the major toothpaste brands to join us on this journey.
“Not only is there an opportunity to remove this needless packaging, but it also means being able to transport more tubes in the same amount of space, helping us take delivery lorries off the road too.
“We think that for customers the move makes sense, because the first thing they do when they buy toothpaste is throw the packaging box away.”
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