Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has removed the plastic trays from its “by Sainsbury’s” range of steak and has replaced them with a cardboard tray alternative.

The company has claimed that this move will “result in a 70 percent reduction in plastic per tray and is set to save 249 tonnes of plastic each year”.

With a goal to half its use of own brand plastic packaging by 2025, Sainsbury’s seems to already be taking steps to achieve this goal.

The new trays will be launched across 10 products in the range and will be available in store and online from July 2023. For efficient recycling at home, Sainsbury’s has advised that the cardboard packaging should be rinsed before placing it in a kerbside recycling bin.

Previously, the cardboard trays were introduced to the supermarket’s Taste The Difference and So Organic steaks. Back in April 2023, Sainsbury’s removed the trays from its whole chickens and also removed plastic bags from its entire banana range, steps they claim “[saved] 192 tonnes of plastic”.

Commenting on its latest sustainability initiative, Claire Hughes, Director of Product and Innovation at Sainsbury’s, said: “As part of our Plan for Better commitments, we are trying to reduce plastic packaging across our own brand ranges, as we know that reducing plastic is important to our customers but also on our environmental impact.

“We’re pleased to save another 10 million pieces of plastic a year by swapping our by Sainsbury’s steak trays to cardboard following the changes we have already made on So Organic and Taste the Difference packaging.”

“While we are making good progress, we know there is more to do and we are committed to making bold changes that help us achieve our plastic reduction targets,” concluded Hughes.