Tesco is testing the etching or “tattooing” of avocados as a way to cut out the millions of plastic stickers used to label them.
The retailer said is was working with a fruit supplier, Westphalia, to scrap the stickers currently used on its extra large avocados and replace them with a laser etching, in a trial launched this month.
Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket which sells almost 70m avocados a year, said the scheme would save the use of almost a million plastic stickers on the large version of the fruit, where the technology will be first used.
The computer-guided lasers remove a tiny layer from the top of the avocado skin to etch information in less than a second. The process leaves a design that communicates the size or variety of the fruit to customers.
The test will take place in about 270 Tesco stores in south-east England and, if feedback from customers is positive, will be rolled out across the group.
Under the scheme, Tesco is also testing a switch from plastic trays to more easily recyclable cardboard on some twin-packs of avocados, which could ultimately save more than 20m pieces of plastic a year.
Sales of avocados are up by 15% year on year at Tesco, despite concerns about their carbon footprint and fears about ethical standards on farms.
Graham Isaac, the general manager of Westfalia Fruit, said: “We are confident that, with a clear focus and untied effort as an industry, we will be able to significantly reduce our waste, use natural resources responsibly and protect the environment and biodiversity for all our futures.”
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Tesco is not the first retailer to test the idea of tattooing labels on to avocados. Marks & Spencer tried out a similar idea with a supplier, Mack, based in Kent, in 2017 and tested it on oranges several years earlier. Its partner, the Spanish company Laser Food, has tested the technology on a range of fruits, from coconuts to apples.