Tesco is to stop using plastic carrier bags when delivering orders from its online business, cutting the required number of units by 250 million.

The decision follows the company’s 28-week trial of introducing carrier bag-free deliveries at 33 stores, forming part of its efforts to reduce plastic use across its operations.

According to the UK supermarket chain, the lowered use of plastic bags will mean that nearly 2,000t of the material will be removed from production each year.

Tesco’s delivery drivers will help customers with taking groceries from reusable trays and carrying them into their kitchens.

Tesco quality director Sarah Bradbury said: “We’re looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use. We know it’s an important issue for customers, colleagues and our business and we know we have to do more.

“Removing carrier bags from our online shopping is one of the many ways we are making changes to help customers reduce their use of plastic. Right now, we’re reviewing all our packaging, including plastic, looking to remove where possible.

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“Where it’s not right to remove, we will reduce, help customers reuse and ensure all packaging can be recycled. Our scale means a simple, straightforward change can have such a big impact.”

Tesco is planning to remove the most difficulty recycled materials from its own-brand packaging by the end of this year.

The alteration will result in the removal of around 3,000t of hard-to-recycle plastics, as well as 570 products that feature widely recyclable packaging.

In April, Tesco partnered with recycling specialist Recycling Technologies to trial a new plastic packaging recycling technology in ten of its Swindon and Bristol stores.