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UK supermarket Sainsbury’s has removed plastic trays from its ‘by Sainsbury’s’ steak range, replacing them with a cardboard tray alternative. Sainsbury’s says the move will result in a 70% reduction in plastic per tray, potentially saving 249 tonnes of plastic each year. The new trays have been launched across ten products in the range and can be recycled at home by rinsing the cardboard before placing it in a kerbside recycling bin. Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “As part of our ‘Plan for Better’ commitments, we are trying to reduce plastic packaging across our own brand ranges, as we know that reducing plastic is important to our customers but also on our environmental impact. It’s why we are always looking at ways to innovate our packaging and reduce or replace plastic wherever we can, as quickly as we can.” She continued: “We’re pleased to save another 10 million pieces of plastic a year by swapping our ‘by Sainsbury’s’ steak trays to cardboard following the changes we have already made on So Organic and Taste the Difference packaging. While we are making good progress, we know there is more to do and we are committed to making bold changes that help us achieve our plastic reduction targets.” The change is the supermarket’s latest step towards its commitment to half its use of its own brand plastic packaging by 2025 – in April Sainsbury’s went trayless on whole chickens and earlier this year removed plastic bags from its entire banana range. In February Sainsbury’s removed all traditional plastic tray packaging across its entire beef mince range, replacing it with a vacuum-packed alternative, saving approximately 450 tonnes of plastic a year.