ASDA has scrapped a major scheme offering cheaper deals on several grocery essentials in a blow to shoppers.
The supermarket giant axed its store trials of refillable packaging technology featuring brands like PG Tips, Persil and Cadbury.
After testing the idea at four locations around the UK with a number of top manufacturers, Asda admitted the economics of the idea were “too challenging”.
The scheme, which had promised a revolution in eco-inspired shopping, had its first plastic trial store in Middleton, Leeds in 2020, including 15 huge refillable stations offering 30 staples.
It included products like PG Tips, Vimto, Kellogg’s, Radox, and Persil, with consumers able to bring their own containers to fill up on tea, coffee, rice, pasta, and laundry powder.
The stores will also carry Cadbury’s Giant Buttons, Maynards Wine Gums, and Harringtons pet food.
The idea was to cut plastic and limit waste.
Two years ago, the store unveiled a new “refill price promise” that assured refill products would be less expensive than packaged alternatives, amid worries that the new format could not compete on price.
Roger Burnely, Asda’s CEO and president, said at the time: “Today marks an important milestone in our journey as we tackle plastic pollution and help our customers to reduce, re-use and recycle.”
“We have always known that we couldn’t go on this journey alone, so it is fantastic to work in tandem with more than twenty of our partners and suppliers, who have answered the call to test innovative sustainable solutions with us.”
But Asda today stated that although the experiment raised awareness of refillable technology, it has not been able to find a means to scale up the pilots nationally.
“Over the past four years, our refill trial stores have taught us a lot about the complexities of scaling refillable packaging,” the company said in an update on its environmental strategy.
“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 went on to say that “uptake remained low” despite efforts to promote the idea further.
Asda said: “Refill, in its current format, remains too challenging for our business to scale and operate. As with any trial, we need to adapt and evolve. Therefore, we are exiting the refill trials in our four existing stores.”
It declared that it will try to create plans with “commercial viability and operational feasibility” in the future.
Asda was not the first supermarket to launch this type of scheme as Lidl will be able to use a refill machine at two shops to stock up on Formil laundry detergent using plastic pouches.
Aldi also launched a new eco-store where you can fill up on coffee beans, nuts, and seeds for less at a refill station.
Waitrose offers refill stations for key products in some stores including ones in Oxford and Cheltenham.
While Morrisons rewards customers who bring containers to take home meat and fish.
