Asda is holding a trail called “Leave It With Us” in an attempted to identify products that are over-packaged and to put pressure on suppliers to do the same.

Asda will ask its customers to return items they deem over-packaged by putting it into huge wheelie bins in the foyer of two of its major stores -York and Dewsbury.

Part of Asda’s commitment to reducing over-packaging on all of its own-label food products by 25 per cent over the next year, this scheme will be extended to every Asda store across the UK if it proves successful in the trail.

After the excess packaging has been collected it will then be examined by Asda’s packaging experts, photographed, and the results sent to each supplier identified with the expectation that steps will be taken to reduce waste. It is believed that this process will bring Asda into direct conflict with some of the biggest brands in the country.

Asda spokesman Dominic Burch said: “Shoppers are our eyes and ears across our entire business. Each Asda store contains, on average, over 40,000 different products, so examining each one is a massive task.

“We want to reduce packaging waste as quickly as we can, so it makes perfect sense to enlist the help of an entire army of our most vigilant allies - our customers….

“Our customers are telling us that they want to see a lot less packaging on all products. This is a major step towards ensuring that everything we sell in our stores - regardless of who makes it - is made with the least amount of packaging required to protect and preserve that item."

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