In pictures: Asda unveils landmark ‘sustainability store’

The opening of the Asda store in Middleton, Leeds, was accompanied by a new plastics reduction strategy designed to remove 3 billion pieces of plastic from own-brand products by 2025.

Asda, which is being sold by parent company Walmart to entrepreneurs the Issa brothers, expects the initiatives in place to “help shoppers reduce, reuse and recycle with ease” and that the measures in the pilot store will save 1 million million pieces of plastic per year.

Asda worked with big-name FMCG brands such as PG Tips, Vimto, Kellogg’s, Radox and Persil to create the store and hopes to replicate the initiatives in more branches next year.

The store includes 15 “huge” refill stations including products such as Kellogg’s cereals, Lavazza coffee beans and own-brand rice and pasta.

The grocer will sell 53 fresh produce lines loose and unwrapped, and has removed outer plastic wrapping from products such as Heinz canned multipacks.

There are recycling facilities for items difficult to recycle at kerbside collections and the retailer has installed its first reverse vending machine.

Asda will also showcase sustainable George fashion products, such as items made from recycled polyester, and has struck a partnership with vintage clothing wholesaler Preloved to sell branded apparel.

Asda chief executive Roger Burnley said: “Today marks an important milestone in our journey as we tackle plastic pollution and help our customers to reduce, reuse and recycle. 

“We have always known that we couldn’t go on this journey alone, so it is fantastic to work in tandem with more than 20 of our partners and suppliers, who have answered the call to test innovative sustainable solutions with us.

“This is an issue that matters greatly to our customers – our own insight tells us that more than 80% believe that supermarkets have a responsibility to reduce the amount of single-use plastics in stores. We want to give them the opportunity to live more sustainably by offering them great product choices and value, underpinned by a promise that they won’t pay more for greener options at Asda.  

“During the next few months we will listen to customers and colleagues’ feedback on Middleton so we can understand how we can continue to reduce our environmental impacts, whilst continuing to deliver quality service at a great price.”

Unilever UK and Ireland executive vice-president Sebastian Munden said: “I am very excited by the potential to test and learn from this fantastic partnership with Asda. It’s a great opportunity for us to find out, across seven of our leading brands, just how shoppers respond to using refillable and reusable packaging in store.

“We are all committed to driving lasting change when it comes to plastic, but to do so we must create scalable solutions and make it as easy as possible for people to make sustainable choices. On our journey to halving our use of virgin plastic by 2025 we will have to be bold and totally rethink products and packaging, and we will only do that by testing a range of solutions with shoppers in real-life conditions.”