ASDA is making a major change to its own-brand teabags.
Shoppers will be thrilled to hear that Asda has made a change to the material used in its tea bags.
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Asda is introducing plant-based packaging which will allow shoppers to recycle their tea bags.
The supermarket estimated that it sells over 550 million tea bags each year.
Indeed, customers can grab 40 Asda Just Essentials own-brand tea bags for as little as 31p.
Asda has said that the new tea bags are made from corn starch, which is a natural, plant-based material.
This will replace the non-renewable oil-based plastic bags which it has previously used.
Jon Wells packaging technologist at Asda said: “We know our customers want to do all they can to reduce their impact on the environment and we want to make that as easy as possible for them.
“Tea is a staple in most customer’s households so for us to make a change which can make such a difference is a big moment for us.”
Adam Herriott, sector specialist at WRAP, said: “It’s positive to hear of further moves by Asda, a founding member of The UK Plastics Pact, to make innovative moves on their products and tackle plastic waste.
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“We must continue to go further, and ensure we bring in more changes that benefit shoppers and the environment.”
Asda’s not the first supermarket to have made the changes.
Aldi Specially Selected Infusion tea bags, Co-Op own brand 99, Lidl pyramid tea bags and Sainsbury’s own brand tea bags are all plastic free and fully recyclable.
Big brands including PG Tips, Teapigs and Twinings’ pyramid range also contain plastic-free bags which are fully recyclable.
Certain Aldi and Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Tetley and some Twinings tea bags still contain plastic and are not recyclable.
It’s best to check the label to make sure your tea bags can be disposed of in this way.
The news comes after Lidl announced that it is ditching the familiar packaging seen on milk tops to help the environment.
Instead, milk will come with the same clear plastic lid which can be recycled more easily.
It means shoppers will have to look a lot closer at the labels, instead of glancing at the top of bottles.
The change comes after a trial of the new caps earlier this year in some stores with milk supplier Muller.
Green-coloured milk caps on semi-skimmed and organic fresh milk will be ditched for the clear-coloured caps.
A green lid usually signals that it’s semi-skimmed milk, and a red cap is for skimmed milk, while blue is for whole milk.
The change will be rolled out from October 31 and will be in all of Lidl’s more than 900 stores by November 21.
Many supermarkets have made a change to best-before dates – see the full list.
Meanwhile, Quality Streets have had a major makeover with new eco-friendly wrappers.
