Morrisons is trialling vending machines for the return of single-use plastic bottles and cans at two stores in a bid to reduce plastic waste.
Customers can deposit a maximum of 20 bottles or cans a day to be recycled and get Morrisons More points and coupons in return. Alternatively, customers can choose to donate 10p to the supermarket’s charity partner, CLIC Sargent - a cancer charity for children and young people.
It is running the scheme at two stores - one in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and Lindsayfield, Scotland, for six months.
The machines will accept all plastic bottles and aluminium cans that have a barcode, as well as Morrisons own brand multipack bottles that don’t have one.
Morrisons said it will listen to customer feedback during the trial to understand how the machines could be used to reduce the impact of plastic on the environment.
Morrisons group corporate services director Andrew Clappen said: “We want to play our part in making sure plastic bottles are collected and recycled. We’ll listen to customers as they use these machines.”
The scheme follows a number of moves by Morrisons to reduce customers’ use of plastic, such as the reintroduction of brown paper bags for loose fruit and vegetables.
Morrisons is not the first supermarket to trial a deposit scheme. In May, Iceland installed a deposit machine at its Fulham store for an initial six month period – giving shoppers a 10p Iceland voucher for each returned plastic bottle.