Iceland shoppers are set for a significant shift in their shopping experience following a recent announcement from the frozen food retailer. The supermarket has revealed plans to implement changes to certain orders as part of efforts to reduce waste.

The chain has announced it will eliminate plastic and paper bags from online deliveries, with pilot schemes already underway in select regions. West Yorkshire, for instance, has been testing the new packaging approach since January 10 this year.

Currently, Iceland shoppers nationwide can opt to have their deliveries arrive in paper bags, insulated freezer bags, or reusable woven bags for an additional 30p per bag. Yet, customers in the trial zones will no longer have access to these choices.

Moving forward, Iceland will dispatch all online orders in loose crates, with raw meat and cleaning products being the sole exceptions due to hygiene considerations. A spokesperson told The Grocer that the supermarket is testing bagless deliveries “in a number of areas” to enhance “our service to customers”.

The specific locations affected by the trial and its duration remain unclear at present. Should a nationwide implementation proceed, Iceland would be following the lead of rival supermarkets that have been eliminating plastic bags from online orders in recent years, such as Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s.

Iceland has already eliminated single-use plastic bags from its online deliveries, though the retailer has been cautious about removing bags entirely due to concerns over how this might impact frozen goods, which represent a substantial portion of the chain’s inventory.

This isn’t the first occasion Iceland has taken significant action against plastic in its business practices. Back in 2018, the supermarket announced its commitment to eliminate plastic from its own-brand packaging, a goal originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2023 but delayed owing to complications arising from the Covid pandemic and shifts across the sector.

Nevertheless, Iceland’s own sustainability website emphasises that the company remains “as committed as ever to finding new solutions”, including having already stripped away more than a fifth of the plastic from its own-label food packaging.