French supermarket chain Carrefour has announced a new initiative to cut more than 5,000 tonnes of plastic from its product packaging and reinvest the resulting savings into lower prices for shoppers.

The retailer said the programme will generate more than €5 million in savings, which it plans to pass on to customers through price reductions of up to almost 10 per cent on selected products.

The move comes as retailers face rising packaging costs driven by higher virgin plastic prices and increasing environmental levies. Carrefour said the cost of virgin plastic has risen by 50 per cent amid volatility in oil markets and higher eco-contributions linked to packaging waste.

Carrefour's initiative builds on its wider sustainability strategy, which has already removed 25,000 tonnes of plastic since the launch of its Act For Food programme.

As part of the latest commitment, Carrefour said it will eliminate plastic overpackaging on promotional multipacks for its own-brand products by 2028 and for national brands by 2030. The retailer estimates this will remove around 500 tonnes of plastic.

Carrefour added that it plans to reduce plastic packaging for hygiene and household cleaning products by 30 per cent through the introduction of refill formats made from recycled plastic, larger container sizes, and solid product alternatives. Carrefour expects these changes to remove around 2,000 tonnes of plastic.

Elsewhere, the retailer will replace plastic blister packaging across its toilet paper range with paper packaging by 2030, cutting a further 1,500 tonnes of plastic.

Carrefour also aims to expand its range of deposit-return products to more than 1,000 lines by 2030. The retailer expects to sell 50 million reusable bottles, removing approximately 500 tonnes of plastic while offering products that are, on average, 5 per cent cheaper per litre than non-reusable alternatives.

The final part of the programme focuses on bakery products, where Carrefour will introduce packaging that combines cardboard boxes with plastic windows, reducing plastic use by an estimated 500 tonnes.

"Carrefour was an early adopter in the fight against plastic pollution,” said Alexandre Bompard, chairman and chief executive of Carrefour Group. “Today, we are taking this a step further with an unprecedented initiative in the retail sector: we have chosen to invest the savings generated by fighting plastic back into our customers' purchasing power."

The retailer said it hopes the programme will help establish new packaging standards across the industry while supporting both sustainability goals and affordability for consumers.

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