The UK’s first ever tubeless kitchen foil is being launched by Tesco in a move that will save 12.5 million cardboard rolls from needing to be produced each year.

Thanks to a new state-of-the-art rolling machine Tesco customers will be the first to try one of the new coreless products when the supermarket launches its re-designed aluminium foil this week.

The move, made by Tesco as part of its commitment to cut down on unnecessary packaging will save 330 tonnes of cardboard each year.

Tesco Technical Manager Bronwen Williams who has been involved in the project said:“This new machine has revolutionised foil production, saving hundreds of tonnes of cardboard from needlessly being made in the first place.

“We are continually looking at ways in which we can cut down on packaging in order to help the environment and hope, after starting with our top selling kitchen foil line, that we will be able to apply this to the rest of our foil range.”

The new cardboard core-less product has been made possible thanks to a new machine that allows the aluminium foil to be rolled tightly around a spindle that has air vents in it. By pumping air into these vents it allows the aluminium foil to be gently released. 

It’s not the first time that Tesco has made a revolutionary change to an everyday rolled domestic product.

Two years ago it launched toilet rolls with double the amount of paper on them in a move that saves nearly 70 tonnes of plastic packaging each year as a result of either fitting more paper onto each roll or winding rolls more tightly, so they take up less space.

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And last week it launched luxury soft toilet rolls and kitchen towel made from cardboard recycled from home delivery boxes, cardboard tubes from toilet rolls, and corrugated card waste.

The innovative process uses less water and energy, compared to paper made with traditional tree fibre.

This move comes as part of Tesco’s 4Rs packaging strategy to tackle the impact of packaging waste. Since 2020, we’ve reduced packaging by over 4,500 tonnes.