ASDA says it has removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic from its own brand packaging since February 2018.

The supermarket, which has a branch in Wellington, says that through product innovation and redesign it has reduced plastic in almost 1,000 individual lines – from fresh fruit and vegetables to electronics and homewares.

Some of the changes implemented over the last 12 months include:

swapping family chilled ready meal trays from black plastic to foil; changing pizza bases from non-recyclable polystyrene to fully recyclable cardboard; replacing five million plastic bags on its bedding range with a cardboard band; taking plastic covers off more than 50 million greetings cards; removing plastic windows and film from more than 1.6 million mince pies at Christmas.

In addition, Asda has taken steps to make its packaging more recyclable, including changing all its fresh produce trays from black plastic to clear.