Asda’s refillable stations allowed shoppers to buy products without the packaging, and to use their own – such as jars and reusable plastic boxes – to fill up instead
Asda has scrapped its refillable product stations across some of its stores in a blow to shoppers looking to cut down on their plastic waste.
The supermarket chain launched trials in four of its UK stores and installed refillable stations. These stations allowed shoppers to buy products without the packaging, and to use their own – such as jars and reusable plastic boxes – to fill up instead. Asda launched the trials with some leading brands including PG Tips, Vimto, Kellogg’s, Radox, and Persil. The reason behind the move was due to the economics of the concept being “too challenging”.
Asda launched its first plastic pilot store in Middleton, Leeds in 2020, featuring 15 huge refillable stations offering 30 staples. Two years ago the chain introduced its “refill price promise” which guaranteed refill products to be cheaper than packaged alternatives.
The news was revealed in an update in its environmental strategy published this week. Asda said that despite the trial increasing awareness of refillable technology, it had not been able to find a way to scale up the pilots nationally. The report said: “Over the past four years, our refill trial stores have taught us a lot about the complexities of scaling refillable packaging. We’ve achieved some success in landing customer-facing propositions in-store, supported by collaboration with key suppliers and organisations such as Wrap and IGD.
“However, we have experienced operational issues and commercial challenges with our existing approach. Our research showed that the key barriers which included cost, convenience, cleanliness, and perceived product quality have prevented customers from engaging with the refill proposition.”
Asda noted that despite its efforts, uptake for the refill station “remained low” and that it was now looking to develop future schemes which would have “operational feasibility and commercial viability”.
