Unpacked

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Reduce, REUSE, Refill

Waitrose Unpacked is an alternative way of shopping that uses less packaging. Customers are encouraged to bring their own containers, bottles and bags to then weigh and fill with groceries such as dried pasta, cereal, coffee, frozen fruit, meat, fish, detergent and washing up liquid.

Inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II TV show in 2017, we were the first supermarket in the UK to offer customers this style of shopping as part of our continued commitment to reducing waste, unnecessary plastics and helping customers shop sustainably.

Unpacked was successfully trialled in June 2019 at Waitrose in Botley Road, Oxford. It was introduced to  Cheltenham, Abingdon and Wallingford shortly after that. As interest and demand grows, we hope to offer Unpacked to more of our shops and online.

Unpacked
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We’re COMMITTED to making shopping SUSTAINABLE

  • We're working on making our own-brand packaging reusable, widely recyclable or home compostable by 2023.

  • Removing unnecessary plastics and finding alternatives. Find out more about how we’re taking action on plastics.
  • Reducing food waste in our supply chain, for example by redistributing surplus stock from our stores to charities, selling wonky produce and forgotten cuts of meat, and improving our ordering systems. Find out more

  • Helping our customers to shop, store and cook in ways that reduce waste, such as zero-waste menus, using up leftovers and organising ingredients so they last as long as possible. Take a look at these suggestions for making the most of your food.

How do I SHOP unpacked?

1.

 Unpacked is available in these Waitrose stores: 
Oxford Botley Road, Cheltenham, Abingdon and Wallingford. 

2.

Take along clean, empty containers and bottles – or buy them in store. Please use one container per product.

3.

Head to the shopping aisle or dedicated refill area and follow these steps: weigh and label your container, fill with produce, weigh and relabel your filled container.

 

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