British supermarket Asda anticipates removing 101 million pieces of single-use plastic bags from its stores yearly by switching to reusable fruit and vegetable bags made from 100% recycled plastic water bottles.

Following a 9-store trial that drew positive customer and colleague feedback, Asda is expanding the program to all stores across the UK instead offering customers a reusable alternative. Priced at just 30p each, Asda’s reusable bags offers customers an affordable, reusable alternative to single-use packaging.

During the trial period, Asda sold an average of 30,000 reusable bags each week as customers continue to support efforts to tackle plastic pollution.

“We know that our customers and colleagues are really passionate about doing the right thing for the environment and this move is just another way we are helping them make sustainable choices, without compromising on the quality of our produce,” says Dominic Edwards, director of produce. “Following some really positive feedback on our trial, we’re excited to roll out the removal of the plastic bags across all our stores, as we continue to work towards our plastic reduction targets as a business.”

Asda has continued to look at ways to remove plastic from across its fresh produce and later this year, the retailer is going to remove the plastic punnets from Conference Pears saving an additional 170 tonnes of plastic each year.

These initiatives are part of Asda’s long-term commitment to remove single use plastic from its business. Since 2018, the supermarket has removed 9,000 tonnes or plastic and committed to removing 3 billion pieces of plastic from own-brand products by 2025.