Asda is opening its first “sustainability store.” Walmart’s UK subsidiary has joined forces with other companies, including Unilever and Kellogg, to launch this pilot project, aiming to find new ways to reduce plastic and promote reuse and replenishment among consumers.
This first sustainable supermarket will be located in the city center of Leeds, England, and will open its doors next May. It will be the first Asda store where customers can fill their own containers with products such as coffee, rice, and pasta from the chain's own brand.
The company also negotiated with other well-known brands to collaborate on this project: shoppers can also use the refill points with Kellogg's cereals and Unilever's PG Tips tea.
In addition to these refill points, the store will offer loose foods, such as mushrooms, without packaging. It will also have other recycling facilities, including a reverse vending machine for plastic bottles and cans, a hanger recycling area, and a collection point for small plastic toys.
Asda will ask customers who shop at the store to give their opinion on the services, which will allow it and its suppliers to better understand how these projects work in practice. The test will be valid for at least three months before a decision is made to continue, redesign, or suspend the initiative.
This project is part of Asda's commitments to reduce plastic use. After eliminating eight thousand tons of own-brand packaging since 2018, it has committed to manufacturing almost a third of its plastic packaging from recycled sources by the end of 2020, and reducing plastic by 15% by February 2021. It will also produce all packaging – of any material – that is 100% recyclable by 2025.
