UK retail chain Sainsbury’s is rolling out new revamped packaging on its own-brand chicken and fish lines, set to save 694 tonnes of plastic per year.

In what is claimed to be a UK retailer first, Sainsbury’s own-brand salmon fillet trays are switching from plastic to cardboard, made from sugarcane pulp and lined with polyethylene film. The move will reduce the packaging’s plastic content by 70%.

Additionally, cardboard trays are being rolled out across Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference and By Sainsbury’s breaded chicken lines, set to save 300 tonnes of plastic a year. The same change will also be applied to the retailer’s Taste the Difference breaded fish fillets, saving 48 tonnes of plastic annually.

The pulp cardboard trays are easily recyclable at home as part of regular kerbside collections, and will be rolled out throughout the summer across many seasonal chicken favourites, including Sainsbury’s finger food and barbecue ranges.

Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “With salmon being one of our most popular fish, we made it a priority to reduce the plastic on the packaging of this much-loved product as we work towards our Plan for Better goals”.

Sainsbury’s recently launched a ‘Good to Know’ logo initiative, helping consumers to identify products that are made more sustainably, including those with reduced plastic packaging. The logo can be found on the latest packaging across Sainsbury’s salmon products.

The announcements are the latest in a string of changes implemented by Sainsbury’s as part of a goal to reduce its own-brand plastic packaging, including replacing its plastic steak trays with cardboard alternatives and swapping plastic punnets for cardboard on all own-brand mushrooms – the latter set to save 775 tonnes of plastic a year.

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