Morrisons has become the first UK supermarket to ban plastic packaging from all bananas sold in its stores.
The supermarket giant – one of the ‘Big Four’ in Great Britain – announced a pledge to replace plastic bags with paper bands on some of its bananas – which is the second most bought item in stores.
This means 45 million single-use plastic bags and 180 metric tons of plastic will be removed from stores a year and will be rolled out in six months.
The ban is part of the company’s drive to reduce plastic and revert back to traditional grocery packaging methods.
It follows the supermarket giant’s successful 12 week trial that removed over two-million pre-packed plastic bags to date.
It has recently launched a glass milk bottle trial in which bottles of milk are delivered directly to its supermarkets by local dairy farms.
Elio Biondo, Morrisons banana buyer from, said: “Bananas have their own packaging – their skins. They also grow in bunches which generally means they don’t need bagging together.
“So a simple sturdy paper band is the ideal alternative. In trials the quality of the bananas has remained the same, so this switch out of plastic is a no-brainer.”
