Tesco to swap cardboard egg boxes with plastic ones to ‘prevent food waste’

Tesco is currently selling its free range eggs in pulp cartons and it claims that eggs break while in transit and leak through the cartons, damaging other boxes while in transit.

The supermarket announced that it is trialling a recyclable plastic packaging made from recycled plastic drinks bottles. If an egg breaks then the seepage can be contained in one pack, according to Tesco.

Over the last eight weeks Tesco has trialled the new 12 egg packaging in nearly 200 stores served by depots in the Livingston area in Scotland and in the Belfast area in Northern Ireland.

Tesco technologist Lee Gray said: “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.

“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.”

The supermarket also said that the new cartons will take up less space during transportation as well as less shelf space in store and will also decrease carbon emissions.

Tesco is working with a third party supply chain consultancy firm, which it has not named, to measure this benefit.

Liz Gyekye