Tesco has launched a zero waste shopping service

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Many named brands including Heinz and Coco-Cola are on board with zero waste shopping and reusable packaging

Plastics can take hundreds of years to decompose. So throwing plastic away after one or two uses is not a great thing to do.

In the UK, people throw away about, 295 billion pieces of plastic every year.

Food packaging is a big source of a lot of that waste, and supermarkets are trying to think up ways to help solve the problem.

Several companies have already introduced reusable packaging, but now Tesco - which is where more than a quarter of UK homes buy their food - has launched an online, zero waste shopping option.

What does zero waste actually mean?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, This campaign is focusing on the second of the 'Three R's' REUSE!

Zero waste means that the entire process has been done with the aim that nothing involved will have to go to a landfill - it can all be reused or recycled.

The aim is to have as many people as possible using 'zero waste' products to reduce the amounts of items being thrown away into rubbish dumps.

What is it that Tesco are doing?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Buying fruits and vegetables out of plastic would also help reduce the amount of plastic that gets thrown away

Tesco have teamed up with a company called 'loop' and their online shoppers will be encouraged to try the zero waste shopping option.

This means that the shoppers who choose this option will be buying products in reusable containers.

Things like yoghurt, fizzy drinks, soap and even toothpaste will be delivered in reusable packaging.

Once the customer has finished with their products they simply box them up to dropped off or collected.

The items will then be cleaned, refilled and sent out to the next customer.

Tesco have said that they are trailing this system to make sense of how it all works, to see if the UK could be zero waste.