New Tesco cheese packaging to save ‘260 tonnes of plastic annually’

The saving has been made by switching from the traditional square block shape to oblong packaging and also by removing the current re-sealable zip.

The 260 ton saving will also be achieved by Tesco ditching the plastic trays in which these cheeses are delivered and they will now be sent in a new cardboard shelf-ready format.

New 400g pack sizes are replacing 460g packs and both they and existing 220g packs have had their re-sealable zip removed.

Nearly 40 lines of Tesco’s own brand territorial hard cheeses have been re-formatted.

Peter Wood, Tesco cheese buying manager, said: “This is a revolutionary move for the UK cheese industry because the iconic square shaped cheese packs have been around for decades.

“By changing the pack shape and also removing the re-sealable zip we will be able to reduce plastic packaging on our brand hard cheeses by up to 41% against the former product, depending on the size of the block. Another benefit to customers is that these new chunkier pack sizes are easier to handle so cutting, grating and slicing will be simpler.”

Lines included in the re-packaging move include: Tesco Extra Mature Cheddar 400g, Tesco Red Leicester 400g, Tesco Double Gloucester 400g, Tesco 50% Reduced Fat Mature Cheese 220g, Tesco Welsh Mild Cheddar 220g and eight of Tesco’s Creamfields 400g own brand Cheddar cheeses.