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Ocado Retail has become the first major UK supermarket to pilot a new reusable packaging scheme, specially designed for online orders.

The trial, which is staged across two phases, will use a reusable vessel developed specifically to deliver food cupboard staples and laundry products at scale, with no extra cost to the customer.

The reusable range will include frequently purchased items – phase one, starting this month, will include Ocado Reuse Basmati Rice 2kg and Ocado Reuse Penne Pasta 1kg. Phase two, coming later this year, will add laundry detergents to the trial.

The pilot works by Ocado pre-filling a reusable container with product, before delivering it to customers alongside the rest of their shop. Customers then return the empty container to their next Ocado driver. The containers are then collected from Ocado and washed before being filled again at the supplier. Each vessel replaces up to five single-use plastic items and is designed to be used over 60 times, leading to a significant reduction in single-use plastic over time.

Research among more than 2,000 consumers undertaken by Ocado Retail and Savanta revealed that there is growing public demand to reduce the use of single-use plastic from grocery shops. The survey found that 72% of respondents were concerned about the amount of waste generated by single-use packaging of grocery products, with one in three opting to use retailers that provide refillable options for their pantry staples.

The majority of consumers (73%) said that more supermarkets should offer refillable options, especially across essential items such as pasta (66%), rice (67%), liquid laundry detergent (50%) and fabric conditioner (46%).

According to Ocado, if every household in the UK opted to reuse just one item per week, it would eliminate over 1.4 billion items of single-use packaging per year.

The Refill Coalition said in a statement: "We are delighted to see Ocado Retail bring a direct-to-consumer reusable packaging solution to market. As a Coalition we share the mutual objective of reducing single-use plastic packaging and believe that the solutions we have developed present a landmark opportunity for us to make a step change in the commercialisation of reusable packaging which we know can play a significant role in the reduction of single-use plastic packaging.”

Simon Hinks, product director at Ocado Retail, commented: "We’re proud to be the first major supermarket to pilot an online reusable packaging scheme. Most people understand the concept and know it works in a physical store but this trial brings the solution straight to customers’ doors. Our customers are already used to giving their bags back to our drivers for recycling - so this is a really sensible next step for us to help our customers reduce single-use plastic on products they buy frequently.”

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