Refillable groceries to be made accessible to every shopper

Grocers Waitrose, Ocado, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and the supply-chain company CHEP have formed a partnership committing to the roll-out of refill stations across their stores so that “every shopper in the UK” can have access to refillable groceries.

The partnership titled Refill Coalition group is led by Unpackaged, a company that runs refill stations in stores including Plant Organic. It plans to start the rollout by the end of the year.

Supermarkets will start their refill lines with dry goods including pasta, rice, cereals, seeds, grains, nuts and dried fruits; and will also offer household and personal care products such as washing up liquid, shampoo and hand wash.

Grocers including Waitrose and M&S are currently trialling some refill stations in a few branches.

“Working together to create a universal system gives us the best chance of scaling refills so they become accessible to every shopper in the UK, as we know consumers want less single-use plastic packaging on the items they buy,”  The Guardian quoted Unpackaged founder Catherin Conway as saying.

There are 56.5bn units of single-use plastic packaging sold annually in the UK, according to Greenpeace.

M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Waitrose & Partners and CHEP said in a joint statement: “We’re delighted to be joining forces with the mutual objective of reducing single-use plastic packaging.

“The universal end-to-end solution being developed by the Refill Coalition presents a landmark opportunity for us to make a step-change in the commercialisation of refills which we know can play a significant role in the reduction of single-use plastic packaging.”