Waitrose bans disposable plastic toys given away with magazines
Waitrose is to increase its efforts to reduce single use plastic by no longer selling children’s magazines containing disposable toys.
During the next eight weeks, the supermarket will be removing magazines from its shelves that contain free plastic toys which have a very short lifespan. However, this will not apply to educational or reusable craft items such as colouring pencils and pens or collectable models, which are intended to be used multiple times. Waitrose will also be calling for magazine publishers to replace plastic toys with more sustainable alternatives.
Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability at Waitrose, said: “While we know these magazines are popular with children, some of the unnecessary plastic attached to them has become really excessive. Many in the younger generation really care about the planet and are the ones inheriting the problem of plastic pollution. We urge publishers to find alternatives, and other retailers to follow our lead in ending the pointless plastic that comes with children’s magazines.”
In 2019, Waitrose announced that it would stop selling Christmas crackers containing plastic toys from 2020. It is also on track to making all own-label packaging widely recycled, reusable or home compostable by 2023.
