Morrisons is set to ban plastic fruit packaging across all supermarket stores in the UK.

Customers can now choose from 127 different fruit and veg options and buy them loose or use recyclable bags.

Fruit will be exclusively plastic-free, but the supermarket will still stock vegetables in plastic packaging alongside the loose options.

Morrisons trialled the scheme in three stores for ten months, and reported a 40 percent rise in costumers going for the environmentally friendly option.

Drew Kirk, fruit and veg director at Morrisons, said: “Many of our customers would like the option of buying their fruit and veg loose.

“So we’re creating an area of our greengrocery with no plastic where they can pick as much or as little as they like. We’re going back to using traditional greengrocery and we hope customers appreciate the choice.”

Read: Plastic straws aren’t the problem – fishing nets account for half the ocean’s plastic

The new system will be introduced to 60 stores this year and rolled out to the remaining 440 in the near future.

Morrisons follows in the footsteps of other supermarkets trying to reduce their environmental impact.

Tesco has been trialling removing plastic packaging from 45 fruit and vegetable products and is aiming to make all packaging recyclable by 2025, while Waitrose has removed single use plastic carrier bags.

There are over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans and every year one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.

Supermarket chains are under more and more pressure to remove plastic as customers demand options which are kinder to our oceans and environment.

Read: ‘Biodegradable’ plastic bags can still hold shopping after spending 3 years in the ocean

What do you think of Morrisons’ decision to remove plastic packaging? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Oli Gross

Oli’s career and personal ethical values both help shape his reporting of the diverse world of veganism. His background is in local newspaper and magazine journalism, and his work has included reporting court cases, celebrity interviews, business analysis, food and drink features and government legislation.

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