THE FOURTH largest supermarket chain in the UK will introduce measures to reduce plastic pollution.

Morrisons PLC has also committed to making all its own-brand packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “Reducing the damage caused by plastic is one of the most challenging issues society can address.”

The supermarket will be one of the signatories to WRAP’s UK Plastics PACT, an industry initiative which aims to transform the way businesses use plastic and prevent them polluting the environment.

“Because we make most of the fresh food we sell, we’re in an important position to make changes to our packaging, added David.

“Joining WRAP’s Plastic PACT also offers a special opportunity to work collaboratively to take this opportunity.”

Currently 82 percent of the plastic by weight in the supermarket’s packaging is recyclable.

To achieve this Morrisons no longer buys plastic straws or sells 5 pence carrier bags and only purchases cotton buds with paper stems rather than plastic ones.

However, the supermarket will work through its own brand products to identify, reduce and remove unnecessary plastic packaging to achieve the 100 percent target.

Future steps towards reducing plastic pollution include allowing customers to use their own containers for meat of fish, making more packaging recyclable, fitting drinking water fountains in-store and removing plastic packaging from fruit and veg.