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Tesco steps up recycling effort with return-pay scheme
Britain’s biggest retailer tries paying British customers to return plastic bottles
London — Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, is stepping up efforts to encourage shoppers to recycle plastic bottles, trialling in-store recycling machines that pay customers for every bottle returned. The British government has said it wants to work with industry to clamp down on the huge waste that litters the land and sea every year. According to government data, Britain recycled only 57% of the bottles that were sold in 2016, well behind the rates achieved in Denmark, where a deposit return scheme has boosted rates to 90%. Tesco said on Thursday the trial of "reverse vending machines" will take place at stores in Borehamwood, north of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Swansea and Edinburgh. The first machine opened in Borehamwood, with customers paid 10p for each bottle returned. Tesco’s trial follows the launch of similar initiatives by Morrisons, Britain’s number four grocer, the Co-operative (6th) and Iceland (9th). Tesco, which has a UK grocery market share of 27.4%, cited poll...
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