Tesco ready to change to recyclable plastics packaging for free range eggs

In a trial in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Tesco has successfully replaced the pulp cartons used for packaging free range eggs with recyclable plastics.

The UK-based grocery and general merchandise retailer tested a recyclable plastic packaging made from recycled plastic drinks bottles. The trial was done over the last two months in nearly 200 stores in the Livingston area in Scotland and in the Belfast area in Northern Ireland.

"We know that plastic packs reduce food waste - now we have a pack that will reduce food waste and offer customers a more environmentally friendly packaging solution," Tesco technologist Lee Gray says. "If used across all our free range egg range then it will save on average more than one million eggs each year that would otherwise be going to waste."

Tesco says its free range eggs are currently sold in pulp cartons and if an egg breaks in transit it can seep through the box and damage other packs beneath it. The recyclable plastics packaging will save on average more than one million eggs each year if used on all of its free egg range, according to Mr Gray.

Additional benefits include reduced space during transportation as well as taking up less shelf space, adds Tesco. Based on the successful trial, the company hoped to introduce the new plastics packaging by the end of this year.