Waitrose reveals winners of £1m fund to fight plastic

The grocer’s Plan Plastic – The Million Pound Challenge initiative will share the money between five projects that have demonstrated an impact in reducing plastic use.

The fund is a result of a partnership with environmental charity Hubbub and attracted 150 applicants. The winning projects will recieve between £150,000 and £300,000 each.

The winners are: 

• Blue Marine Foundation: SAFEGEAR
• Onion Collective CIC and Biohm: Community Bio-Recycling
• Women’s Environmental Network: Environmenstrual Plastic Free Periods
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory: Mussel Power
• Youth Hostel Association: Message in a Bottle

They were chosen by representatives from academia, industry, non-governmental organisations and business, and cover a variety of issues including microplastic filtering, installing water fountains in youth hostels and plastic-free menstrual products.

The £1m was raised from sales of Waitrose’s 5p plastic carrier bags, before the grocer removed them altogether and replaced loose fruit and vegetable bags with compostable versions.

Waitrose head of CSR, health and agriculture Tor Harris said: “It’s important for us to tackle unnecessary plastic both in our shops but also in the wider world.

“All these inspirational projects have the ability to create real impact in tackling environmental issues and encouraging behaviour change so we can collectively achieve our goal of reducing plastic pollution.”