News

Marks & Spencer has revealed that it has achieved 39 of the 100 targets of its flagship Plan A, as the programme to reduce its environmental impact reached the halfway stage.

Packaging reduction highlights in the programme have included an 83% reduction in single-use carrier bags to 77m, compared to a 33% target, and recycling of 37m two-litre bottles to make polyester for fabric items such as homewares.

The company also revealed that 91% of its packaging was now recyclable, depending on local authority collections, and that overall packaging had reduced by an average of 15% per item sold - compared to a target to reduce the use of non-glass packaging by 25%.

The progress report on the five-year Plan A project came as M&S began stocking salad bowls made from recycled plastic supplied by Closed Loop London, the Dagenham-based food-grade plastics recycler.
M&S said in its update that it was now buying 30% of the entire output of the Dagenham plant.

Plan A launched in January 2007 and has been widely regarded as a pioneering project that has placed Marks & Spencer at the forefront of the environmental debate.

Marks & Spencer chairman Stuart Rose admitted that the economic downturn had made Plan A "more challenging", but said that was not an "excuse to not deliver on our commitments".

"Plan A isn't only important to us, it's also significant to our customers. They've told us that despite the impact of the recession our commitment to the environment and trading fairly is still important to them."

Click here to read Packaging News' interview with M&S head of packaging Helene Roberts