Sainsbury's makes huge change to 27 everyday items in stores and online

29 September 2023 , 09:15

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Sainsbury's is changing the packaging on its toilet roll (Image: Stoke Sentinel)

Sainsbury’s is replacing the plastic packaging on its own-brand toilet rolls and kitchen towels with a paper version.

The supermarket started the switchover this week, both in-stores and online, across 27 products. All of its own-brand toilet roll and kitchen towel products will be replaced by February next year.

It comes as part of plans by Sainsbury’s to reduce its plastic use - the supermarket says this move will save around 485 tonnes of plastic each year. Director of product and innovation Claire Hughes said: “We sell thousands of our own brand toilet tissue and kitchen roll products every week and by switching from plastic to paper on these household staples, we’re able to make a significant impact in reducing plastic.

“This change alone represents the biggest plastic reduction in our grocery products so far and our customers can expect many more changes to come. Collaborating with our suppliers to develop innovative packaging solutions to reduce plastic is a major key priority for Sainsbury’s, helping us to achieve our ambitious target of increasing recycled content and recyclability.”

The new paper packaging on the Sainsbury's toilet roll

It comes after Sainsbury's cut the price of 12 toilet roll and kitchen towel products by up to 7% in July. But just because prices have been reduced at one supermarket, it doesn’t mean you can’t find the same products - or an own-brand equivalent - cheaper elsewhere. Always use a comparison website such as Trolley.co.uk to check prices before you shop.

Asda praised over inclusive kids clothing range with holes for feeding tubes

Asda doubled the size of its toilet rolls last year in an effort to reduce its cardboard and plastic. The supermarket said the change will remove 74 tonnes of plastic and save 760 tonnes of cardboard a year. Asda said it was the first UK supermarket to change all of its own brand toilet rolls to a new FSC accredited double length roll.

The toilet rolls are made from 30% recycled content and include a new pack size on the customer favourite "quilts and coconut" fragranced packs. And in other news, Aldi has become the latest supermarket to add the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer to its own-brand toilet wipes.

It comes as part of Bowel Cancer UK’s #GetOnARoll campaign, created in response to calls from the late campaigner Dame Deborah James. The packaging on both products includes a summary of symptoms, together with a QR code for shoppers to find out more about the signs and help available via the Bowel Cancer UK website.

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