The grocer says if the program is successful with consumers, packaging could be used and reused more than 2.5 million times a year. Loop launched its service in the UK with an online offering with Tesco in the spring of 2020 with plans to eventually bring it to brick and mortar stores. Tesco, the UK's largest grocery chain, implemented a plan to reduce plastic waste in 2019. Since then it says it has reduced a billion pieces of plastic from its UK business and will reduce another half a billion this year. The company also says it has reduced materials in its packaging by 2,000 metric tons and has launched soft plastic recycling centers in all of its large stores. "We are determined to tackle plastic waste and one of the ways we can help is by improving reuse options available to customers," Tesco CEO Ken Murphy says. With the Loop program, consumers pay a small refundable deposit and buy… [read more].