Sainsbury’s has announced that it is to ‘go naked’ on all cards stocked by the supermarket from 1 April 2019.
This move is likely to result in Sainsbury’s reducing its plastic waste by 77 tons per year. (Given that the average weight of a cello bag is 1.4 grams).
Of the latest development, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson told PG Buzz: “We are committed to ensuring our packaging is as recyclable as it can be, with a view to achieving our vision through continuous innovation or plastic free alternatives. We’re thrilled to be offering our customers sustainable greeting cards from next year, as one of the steps we are taking towards meeting our collective target to reduce plastic waste.”
Sainsbury’s, which won Best Supermarket Retailer of Greeting Cards award in The Retas 2018, set the pace in the grocery sector by launching a trial in 10 of its stores in September whereby all of the cards stocked were sold unwrapped. The trial was deemed a success on many fronts, not just the environmental one, as its card sales increased by 2.8%.
Commenting at the start of the trial, Carly Pearson, buyer of cards and wrap for Sainsbury’s told PG Buzz: “Sainsbury’s is committed to reducing the volume of non-essential plastic waste, with all cello bags destined for the bin it is the right thing to do for our business and the environment to investigate how essential this plastic is within our department.”
Up until now 70% of all Sainsbury’s cards have sold wrapped, with customers responding positively to their unwrapped presentation, during the trials, whereby the envelopes were displayed behind all the cards in the pocket.
“We received feedback from customers that they would prefer us to remove plastic from cards permanently,” revealed Erin Steel, Sainsbury’s brand communications manager.
This step change is the first of a two-part process for Sainsbury’s. The retailer is now encouraging all suppliers to investigate the removal of plastic attributed to delivery packs.
Continuing the approach it took with the trial, when Sainsbury’s moves to completely unwrapped cards, the price label will be affixed to the back of the cards.
Sainsbury’s is planning on communicating the change to the consumer when the unwrapped cards go into stores in April.
Top: Sainsbury’s is going unwrapped on all cards from 1 April 2019.
