M&S has shrunk the size of hundreds of its food products but there’s a really good reason for it
M&S has redesigned more than 140 products, including crisps and popcorn, to reduce the amount of packaging to help cut waste
MARKS & SPENCER has cut the size of hundreds of products in a bid to cut down on packaging and reduce waste.
The supermarket has redesigned more than 140 of its best-selling products as part of its "Project Thin Air", in a bid to make them smaller and less bulky - but the amount of food has stayed the same.
One of the biggest changes was to the retailer's popcorn range, which has seen a 37 per cent reduction in pack size, with the amount of popcorn in each bag remaining the same.
It is also using 20 per cent less plastic in its crisp range thanks to new thinner film.
The changes have led to 75 tonnes of packaging being saved each year - in carbon emissions this is equivalent to 152 fewer lorries on the road in 2017.
M&S packaging expert Laura Fernandez said: “We’ve been working on this project for over a year and are really pleased with the results.
"We very much see this as the start of a much bigger piece of work and hope to bring equally impressive savings to other areas of the business too.”
Yesterday, a report by Defra claimed that scrapping "use by" dates in favour of "best before" on food could potentially save households £600 million per year.
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Earlier this month we revealed that Sainsbury's has launched new heat and temperature sensitive labels that change colour to tell you when food is off.
Last November, Sainsbury's launched a new range of opaque and breathable packaging designed to help potatoes last longer.
It made the change after finding that households throw away £230 million worth of spuds each year.
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