Sainsbury’s is the first major retailer to announce an initiative on this scale. The new target includes all branded food, as well as Sainsbury’s own-brand goods across all of its operations.

The retailer currently uses 120,000 tonnes of plastic packaging a year and said a “transformational leap in thinking” was needed to move the industry “beyond existing efforts at reducing packaging”.

Sainsbury’s reduced the amount of plastic packaging on its products by only 1% in 2018 and, in light of this, launched a programme to accelerate this reduction over the next few years.

The grocer will be focusing on key areas with the biggest potential impact, including plastic milk bottles, fruit and vegetable packaging, water, fruit juices and fizzy drinks, by switching to alternative materials, using lighter-weight plastics and introducing refillable packaging.