A TRIAL to recycle plastic films and trays at 10 Tesco stores across the South West is underway with a revolutionary Swindon-based recycling firm.

Pet food pouches, sweet wrappers and plastic bags will be saved from landfill at 10 stores - including the Tesco Extra on Ocotal Way from this Friday - thanks to a new initiative with Recycling Technologies and the supermarket giant.

The collection points at selected stores will send the unrecyclable waste to the firm to be transformed back into a useful oil-like substance called Plaxx.

Adrian Griffiths, founder and CEO of Recycling Technologies, said: “We are delighted to be working with Tesco to help its customers recycle more of their household plastic waste. Using our specialist feedstock recycling process we keep more plastic waste in the economy and out of landfill and our oceans .

“This initiative with Tesco is designed to show there are solutions to recover this important material. Our goal is to double the UK’s capacity to recycle plastic waste by 2027.”

Tesco’s director of quality Sarah Bradbury added: “Reducing and recycling plastics is such an important issue for us, for customers and for the future of our planet. That’s why we are working hard to reduce the amount of packaging in our stores and have committed that all remaining packaging will be recyclable by 2025.

“Our trial with Recycling Technologies will make even more of our packaging recyclable and help us reach our target. This technology could be the final piece of the jigsaw for the UK plastic recycling industry.”

Paula Chin, WWF UK’s Sustainable Materials Specialist, welcomed the trial but called on businesses to do more.

“From our local beaches to the remote Arctic, plastic is choking our oceans and killing wildlife,” she said.

“Eight million tonnes are dumped into our seas every year – killing turtles, fish, whales and birds. While we can all do our bit by reducing the plastic we buy and embracing reusable items, we need producers, businesses and governments to face their responsibilities too.”

Tesco currently recycles 83 per cent of its packaging, but if rolled out nationwide up to 90 per cent of Tesco’s own label packaging – the equivalent of 65,000 tonnes of plastic - could be recycled every year.