Recyclable plastic packaging to save one million eggs per year

Recyclable plastic packaging that will save more than a million eggs from going to waste each year has been successfully trialled by UK supermarket Tesco.

At the moment, Tesco’s free-range eggs are sold in pulp cartons. If an egg breaks in transit, it can seep through the box and damage other packs beneath it.

Over eight weeks, the supermarket has been trialling new egg packaging - made from recycled plastic drinks bottles - in nearly 200 stores served by depots in the Livingston area in Scotland and in the Belfast area in Northern Ireland.

If an egg breaks in the recyclable plastic packaging, the seepage can be contained in one pack. Other benefits are that the new cartons will take up less space during transportation and less shelf space in store, and will decrease CO₂.

“We know that plastic packs reduce food waste - now we have a pack that will reduce food waste and offer customers a more environmentally friendly packaging solution,” said Tesco technologist Lee Gray.

“If used across all our free-range egg range, then it will save on average more than one million eggs each year that would otherwise be going to waste.

“The results of the trial are very positive and we hope to be able to roll out the packaging by the end of the year.”

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