Spar has confirmed that several of their own label products are no longer packaged in black plastic saving 60 tonnes of the material being sent to landfill.

The environmentally friendly move has resulted in over 100 tonnes of black plastic no longer being produced by the symbol group.

After only setting out the aim to reduce their plastic usage, the retailer hopes all black plastic is completely removed by early 2021.

A statement of Spar’s official website reads: “We have changed our chilled desserts and our ready meals will follow in the New Year to these colourful trays, which are made from 80% recycled plastic so the colour may vary and they are fully recyclable too.”

“Following our move to using 51% recyclable plastic in some of our SPAR UK bottled products, we have now removed enough virgin plastic that if placed in a line these bottles would wrap around the circumference of the Earth.

“These products will altogether remove 235 tonnes of virgin plastic.”

Spar is also aiming to have around 30% of their plastic packaging as recycled content with information on recycling now printed on over 700 own-label products.

The company has pledged to completely remove single-use plastic from its own-label products by 2025.