Tesco has ended the pilot ‘prefill’ scheme it set up in July 2020 to test customer interest in reusable packaging.
The initiative, run in partnership with reuse specialist Loop, ran in 10 stores in the east of England. Under the scheme customers paid refundable deposits on each piece of reusable prefilled packaging. Once empty, the packaging was returned through a courier or instore collection point, before being cleaned, refilled and made available for the next customer.
The scheme offered a reusable range of 88 products, including leading brands – Persil, Fever-Tree, Carex, Tetley Tea and BrewDog among them – together with own-label essentials, such as pasta, rice, oil and sugar.
Giles Bolton, Tesco responsible sourcing director, said on the company’s website: “We’re delighted to report that the pilot was positively received by customers who purchased more than 80,000 products over two years”.
Bolton says the trial has shown the “strong potential” of the prefill model, adding: “While it is very disruptive to usual ways of working, we’ve also seen it’s possible to adapt supply chains working in partnership with suppliers to maintain the quality and availability that customers rightly demand.
“Reuse represents a radical change in the shopping experience and while customers support the environmental principle, industry, policymakers and supply chains will need to work hard and work collectively to support and incentivise customers to adopt new shopping behaviours”
“But there’s still much more to do. Specifically, work is needed to encourage a cultural and behavioural shift from customers. Reuse represents a radical change in the shopping experience and while customers support the environmental principle, industry, policymakers and supply chains will need to work hard and work collectively to support and incentivise customers to adopt new shopping behaviours, while ensuring they don’t come at a cost to shoppers.”