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Have you ever wondered what happens to the soft plastic that you return to the supermarket for recycling?
New investigation reveals the hard truth about soft plastic recycling schemes…
…supermarkets are misleading their customers
Everyday Plastic and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) tracked 40 bundles of soft plastic packaging waste through take-back schemes across England over 12 months.
Of the tracked soft plastic packaging waste collected for recycling at Sainsbury's and Tesco stores, 70% of the soft plastic that reached a known destination was burnt, not recycled
The rest ended up at recycling facilities that downcycle soft plastic waste into lower value products – the majority of which were in Türkiye.
Environmental law NGO ClientEarth warns that the results of the investigation show that supermarket soft plastic take-back schemes are misleading customers.
Campaigners are now calling for Sainsbury's and Tesco to publicly and urgently support a 40% cut in global plastic production by 2040.
Since 2021, major UK supermarkets, including Sainsbury's and Tesco, have been rolling out front-of-store collection points to recycle soft plastic packaging. These schemes aim to tackle the growing supermarket soft plastic packaging footprint by encouraging customers to return their single-use soft plastic, bags, film and wrapping for recycling at stores.
The success of these take-back schemes relies on the goodwill of customers, who perceive recycling as a positive, planet-friendly action. Both Sainsbury's and Tesco state that their customers can return a wide range of their soft plastic packaging waste to stores for recycling, strongly implying that it will be recycled.
In this new investigation – The Hard Truth About Soft Plastic – Everyday Plastic volunteers placed tracking devices (Apple AirTags) in 40 bundles of soft plastic packaging that were then dropped at front-of-store collection points at Sainsbury's and Tesco supermarkets across England, and tracked after they left the stores from July 2023 and February 2024.
Collectively, these tracked bundles of soft plastic were found to have travelled over 25,000km across the UK and overseas. Out of the trackers that are known to have reached a final destination…
7 were turned into fuel pellets (commonly used by industry, such as in cement kilns)
5 were burnt for energy (including two at incineration facilities in Europe)
4 were downcycled overseas
And just 1 was downcycled in the UK
The widespread roll-out of supermarket soft plastic collection schemes is connected to the expansion of familiar on-pack recycling labelling that is now seen across an extensive range of soft plastic packaging. This has led to labels on soft plastic packaging being switched from ‘Do not recycle’ to ‘Recycle with bags at large supermarkets’, and has also allowed both Sainsbury’s and Tesco claiming that they are close to achieving their voluntary packaging recyclability targets.
Soft plastic packaging is acknowledged by the waste management industry and the UK Government to be incredibly challenging to recycle. The UK’s infrastructure only has the mechanical recycling capacity to recycle just over one-quarter of soft plastic that is placed on the market, and most of that is currently limited to commercial and industrial soft plastic waste, rather than the post-consumer soft plastic packaging collected at supermarkets.
This lack of UK recycling infrastructure also means that soft plastic packaging waste is incinerated for energy recovery or exported abroad, despite the environmental and human health harm risks this brings.
Despite these widely recognised issues for recycling soft plastic, the take-back schemes like those in Sainsbury's and Tesco accept all types of soft plastic packaging such as salad bags, crisp packets, bubble wrap, pet food pouches, carrier bags, and more.
Industry members are supportive of supermarket soft plastic collection schemes as it’s believed they will help create a market for soft plastic recycling ahead of the mandated kerbside collection of soft plastic packaging for recycling across the UK expected in 2027. Currently, only 12% of local authorities collect soft plastics at the kerbside – a number that has been declining for the last 5 years.
“Our trackers reveal the hard truth about soft plastic recycling schemes at supermarkets – soft plastic packaging is not getting recycled. The majority of the bundles of soft plastic we tracked ended up being burned for energy recovery – a solution that is being deployed more and more in order to deal with the unmanageable amount of plastic waste. Supermarkets, waste companies and the government acknowledge that there are significant challenges to recycling soft plastic. Our tracker investigation supports these claims and shows that soft plastic is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recycle at scale. The take-back schemes are being presented as a solution, which is diverting attention from the main issue that can’t be overlooked: far too much unnecessary plastic packaging is being produced.” Alison Colclough, Research Director at Everyday Plastic
Eight of the tracked bundles of soft plastic packaging are confirmed to have been sent overseas.
“The export of soft plastic packaging waste collected – whether for energy recovery or recycling – is not without ramifications. Plastic waste exports cause environmental and human health harm. Other countries should not bear the brunt of the UK’s high production rate of this waste material and inability to effectively treat it domestically. Their continued export only further serves to evidence the need to significantly reduce the placement of this type of packaging on the UK market in addition to banning the export of UK plastic waste.” Lauren Weir, Senior Ocean Campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
An accompanying legal briefing published by legal NGO ClientEarth warns that soft plastic recycling claims (in the form of product labels, in-store signage and website content) are misleading consumers about its environmental impact.
“As shown by this investigation, there is a huge gap between what consumers are told about recycling and the shocking reality. Tesco and Sainsbury’s are making misleading claims about the recyclability of soft plastics. We’re faced with a systemic issue in the plastic packaging sector, despite the fact that consumer protection law requires businesses to make it clear when a product has an overall negative impact on the environment. This means consumer protection authorities such as the UK Competition and Markets Authority have grounds to legally challenge these claims. Supermarkets, fast-moving consumer goods companies and the packaging sector must be alive to this greenwashing risk.” Katie-Scarlett Wetherall, lawyer at ClientEarth
Everyday Plastic and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK) are calling for the UK Government to support a cut in global plastic production by 40% by 2040 at the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations and beyond. And they want Sainsbury’s and Tesco to publicly support this.
The public can support this call for Sainsbury’s and Tesco to take action by signing a petition addressed directly to the supermarkets.
Everyday Plastic and EIA UK are also urging the new UK Government to act quickly and implement a series of much-needed policy measures to cut plastic production, ban plastic waste exports, promote reuse and refill, and a suite of other recommendations.
Everyday Plastic and the Environmental Investigation Agency put the relevant findings to Sainsbury’s and Tesco, and their responses were taken into consideration throughout the preparation of this investigation. Within their replies, neither company distinctly provided comment on how much collected soft plastic packaging waste ends up being recycled, nor on the allegation that soft plastic recycling claims relating to take-back schemes are misleading customers.
For more information or interviews please contact: Daniel Webb / Founder & Director, Everyday Plastic / +44 7968 532663 / Email
The Hard Truth About Soft Plastic – further materials
Dedicated webpage
Photos and graphics digital toolkit
About Everyday Plastic
Founded in 2018 by Daniel Webb, Everyday Plastic is an evidence-led non-profit organisation delivering accessible learning and campaigns that tackle the effects of the plastic problem that are felt across our society. Having co-founded The Big Plastic Count – the UK’s largest-ever investigation into household plastic waste – with partners Greenpeace, Everyday Plastic’s unique methodology for calculating people’s plastic footprint continues to inspire change at every level of society.
Website: everydayplastic.org / Instagram: @everydayplastic / X: @PlasticEveryday
About the Environmental Investigation Agency UK
We investigate and campaign against environmental crime and abuse.
Our undercover investigations expose transnational wildlife crime, with a focus on elephants and tigers, and forest crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation for cash crops like palm oil. We work to safeguard global marine ecosystems by addressing the threats posed by plastic pollution, bycatch and commercial exploitation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Finally, we reduce the impact of climate change by campaigning to eliminate powerful refrigerant greenhouse gases, exposing related illicit trade and improving energy efficiency in the cooling sector
Website: eia-international.org / Instagram: @eia_news / X: @EIA_News
About ClientEarth
ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account, and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. From our offices in Europe, Asia and the USA we shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.
We tackle greenwashing because it is a barrier to progress in addressing environmental crises, enabling the most highly polluting companies to appear responsible whilst continuing to harm the environment, including through the plastic pollution crisis.
Website: clientearth.org / Instagram: @clientearth_ / X: @ClientEarth