A trial to remove unneeded toothpaste packaging in the UK has been launched by Tesco. 

For many years, tubes of toothpaste have been packed in a cardboard box, but now Tesco is hoping to banish this piece of unnecessary packaging for good.

Beginning last month, it began testing how customers feel when branded toothpaste is no longer sold in this way.  

In November 2021, the supermarket got the ball rolling by scrapping these boxes for its own brand of toothpaste – a move that will lead to the saving of more than 55 tonnes of cardboard each year.  

The new trial will take place in nearly 30 Tesco stores across the UK and will include all the major toothpaste brands such as Colgate, Oral B, Sensodyne, Aquafresh and Corsadyl.  

If successful, box-less toothpaste will then be rolled out across other Tesco stores, with a potential saving of 680 tonnes of cardboard a year.  

Tesco oral care buyer Felicity Bexton said, “We made a bold move to remove unneeded toothpaste boxes last November on our own brand and have had positive feedback from customers. Now we are working with the major toothpaste brands to join us on this journey.

“Not only is there an opportunity to remove this needless packaging, but it also means being able to transport more tubes in the same amount of space, helping us take delivery lorries off the road too. “We think that for customers the move makes sense, because the first thing they do when they buy toothpaste is throw the packaging box away.”

This move comes as part of Tesco’s 4Rs packaging strategy to tackle the impact of packaging waste. Since the launch of the 4Rs strategy in August 2019, Tesco has reduced packaging by more than 3,000 tonnes from its annual footprint.