Wolverhampton store to host plastic reduction test

Iceland’s Food Warehouse in Wolverhampton is having a reverse vending machine installed to help the company understand how its customers will react to the opportunity to use plastic recycling technology ahead of the launch by the government of a national Deposit Return Scheme across the UK.

More than 12m tonnes of plastic is dumped in the world’s oceans every year, and fears are growing that the toxins originating in plastics as well as poisoning marine life of all kinds, may re-enter the human food chain via seafood.

Reverse vending machines reward people for recycling by giving them either money or vouchers in exchange for empty containers, and Iceland hope that this trial will help them to get a much better understanding of consumer perceptions and appetite for recycling technology outside London, where its Fulham store is also trialling reverse vending machines.

Iceland Foods Group managing director, Richard Walker said: “Whilst our initial trial in London has been a success we feel it is important to include insights from consumers elsewhere in the UK to get a better understanding of the challenges we might face.”

The machine in Wolverhampton will give customers a 10p voucher for every plastic beverage bottle they recycle in the store.

Walker added: “Today’s announcement is a further step in our commitment to tackling the issue of plastic pollution globally, following our pledge to eliminate plastic packaging form all our own product labels by the end of 2023.

“At least one third of plastics, much of this relating to packaging, is single use and then discarded – plastic bottles are a prime example of this. Through our trials we hope to understand how to make it easier for people to act in an environmentally conscious way while tackling the threat of the millions of plastic bottles that go un-recycled every day.”