Mind the cap: Waitrose switches to recyclable lids

Saturday 02 June 2018

Waitrose is to switch all the lids on drinks in its food to go range from black plastic to clear; saying it could potentially save 17 tonnes of plastic from landfill each year.

Changing them to clear plastic will mean they are fully recyclable and it is seen as a step forward for the retailer who has pledged to remove all own-label black plastic packaging by the end of 2019.

The commitment by the supermarket to completely phase out black plastic for own label food and drink by the end of the 2019 is the earliest any supermarket has pledged to achieve this. This includes the caps of all Waitrose’s drinks bottles. Packaging for fruit, veg, meat and fish will be out of black plastic by the end of 2018.

Currently, much of the black plastic packaging used is not recycled locally as lasers used by waste processors cannot recognise the colour effectively. This means they are not identified for recycling.

Roxanne Bennett, Food to Go buyer at Waitrose, said: “This is a great step towards our commitment that all our packaging will be widely recyclable, reusable or home compostable by 2025. 80% of our packaging is already widely recyclable and we’ve reduced packaging by nearly 50% since 2009."

“Our pledge to phase out all own-label black plastic packaging is a challenging one but we hope it shows how serious we’re taking this issue. As black plastic remains tough to recycle, we’re pleased we can switch our food to go drinks lids to widely recyclable clear lids.’’

This is a national campaign by Waitrose which the two local stores at the Rohais and Admiral Park are following, along with all Waitrose goods sold at any concessions.