The supermarket introduced an environmental initiative to shrink the cardboard tubes inside its toilet paper rolls in 2012 in a bid to cut carbon emissions by taking 500 lorries off the road.

In a newsletter on the commitment, Sainsbury’s said that it had made its toilet rolls 24% smaller and saved 335 tonnes in packaging a year. It said that it has done this by converting its own brand toilet paper range to a slimline model. This slimeline model contains a cardboard tube that has a diameter of 112mm instead of the 123mm.

Speaking about the scheme during its initial launch, Sainsbury’s toilet roll buyer Fiona Miall said: “Our customers will still get the same number of sheets and the same great quality, but by shrinking the tube, we are able to reduce the overall package size, meaning less lorries are needed on the road to deliver the products to our stores, and our shoppers save valuable storage space.”

Miall also said that the store was always looking for new ways to make small changes to its business that could help its “customers make more sustainable choices”.

The initiative forms part of Sainsbury’s ’20 by 20 Sustainability Plan’, which the supermarket launched two years ago. The retail giant has committed to making sure that its own packaging has been reduced by half compared to 2005 and has committed to send zero waste to landfill.

Liz Gyekye

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