Sainsbury’s claims it is the first UK retailer to announce it is switching from plastic to paper packaging across its entire own-brand toilet paper and kitchen towel ranges.

The supermarket forecasts that the planned change will result in saving over 55 million pieces of plastic annually and marks the biggest single plastics reduction across Sainsbury's grocery business to date.

“We sell thousands of our own brand toilet tissue and kitchen roll products every week and by switching from plastic to paper on these household staples, we’re able to make a significant impact in reducing plastic,” said Sainsbury’s director or product and innovation Claire Hughes. “This change alone represents the biggest plastic reduction in our grocery products so far and our customers can expect many more changes to come.”

Hughes added that collaborating with its suppliers to develop packaging solutions to reduce plastic was a major priority for Sainsbury’s in its efforts to help it to achieve its targets around increasing recycled content and recyclability.

M&S recently made a similalar move to reduce plastic usage with the introduction of paper bags across all of its UK stores.

The retailer said that 70 per cent of its customers now choose to “bring their own bags don’t use one at all” when they shop in its stores so they felt it was the “right time” to make the change.

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