The allegations came earlier this week in a report published by the Bloomberg organisation, which was covered by other media including The Times.
Bloomberg alleges that a Tesco manager was taken on a trip to Las Vegas in February 2016, paid for by Eurokey.
A Tesco spokesperson told letsrecycle.com ‘on allegations relating to unnamed Tesco procurement manager’: “We take any allegation of this kind seriously and are investigating this fully.”
In the report, Bloomberg also followed the recycling trail for soft plastics from Tesco across Europe. The organisation claimed that Tesco-branded plastic was found at a Turkish landfill site.
In its statement today, the retailer said there was “no evidence” that the Tesco-branded plastic reported as found by Bloomberg at a Turkish landfill site came via its soft plastic collection points.
Acquisition
Tesco agreed a contract with Eurokey to handle soft plastics in late 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Reconomy Group acquired Eurokey for an undisclosed sum in March 2021 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Referring to the allegations around the Tesco executive going to Las Vegas, a spokesperson for Reconomy said: “While these allegations pre-date Reconomy Group’s acquisition of Eurokey in March 2021, we are conducting a thorough internal review.
“We are proud of our work with Eurokey and are committed to trusted relationships with all our customers.”
We are conducting a thorough internal review
- Reconomy spokesperson
Collections
Soft plastic is regularly sent to Eurokey’s sorting centre in Poland as part of Tesco’s soft plastic recycling scheme, the supermarket told letsrecycle.com, as “sufficient infrastructure” to sort the material does not yet exist in the UK.
Bloomberg said it tracked plastic items deposited in front-of-store collection bins at Tesco branches across London to Eurokey Recycling’s plant in Zielona Góra, Poland.
Bloomberg said it then followed one of the digital trackers hidden in a Tesco-branded shopping bag from Poland to an industrial estate near Adana, Turkey.
Landfill
The Tesco spokesperson said: “There are many challenges associated with recycling soft plastic materials and it is precisely because soft plastics are hard to recycle and are not recycled by the vast majority of councils in the UK that we introduced our soft plastic recycling points at our stores to prevent it otherwise going to landfill.
“We take any allegations that suggest the waste we send for recycling is going to landfill very seriously and while we have not been presented with evidence of this, we are undertaking our own audit of the supplier.”
A spokesperson for Eurokey said: “We do not send material to landfill and have zero records of Tesco material sorted by Eurokey ever going to landfill. We will thoroughly investigate any claims otherwise.”
Cement
Bloomberg said it also tracked Tesco’s plastic waste to the Lafarge SA cement plant near Inowroclaw.
Where possible our soft plastic material is recycled into new products and packaging
- Tesco spokesperson
Tesco told letsrecycle.com soft plastic material is recycled into new products and packaging “where possible”.
Where this is not possible, material is sent for energy recovery.
Reprocessing
On the broader issues raised by the Bloomberg report, the Eurokey spokesperson said: “Eurokey is a specialist reprocessing service provider focused on non-contaminated plastics and other recyclable materials. As part of our consumer flexible film recycling trial, all the material we collect is sent for reprocessing in our wholly owned and operated facilities in Poland which meet the standards set by the UK and Polish environmental authorities.
“Our role is to maximise the value of recyclable plastic by bringing to market high-grade material that can be used to manufacture new products. The material that we manage is tracked from the point of collection and dispatched by licensed waste carriers until it reaches an accredited reprocessing facility.
“The consumer recycling trial has demonstrated a negligible impact to the quality of the material we bring to market; only a very small percentage is determined to be non-recyclable and goes to waste to energy or an approved reprocessor. We do not claim PERNs on any material that is non-recyclable. We do not send any material to landfill.”
The spokesperson continued: “Eurokey strives for best practices throughout our business and long-term relationships with our customers and suppliers based on trust and transparency. We are committed to complying with the regulations in the markets where we operate. When we learn of issues of non-compliance, we take appropriate action to resolve the matter.”
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