Tesco has become the first supermarket to remove the plastic wrapping on multipacks, which will in turn remove 350 tonnes of plastic from the environment each year.

The move comes as Tesco looks to fulfill its commitment of removing 1 billion pieces of plastic from its own brand products by the end of 2020.

Tins will be available individually, with plastic wrapping no longer holding them together. Multibuy offers will still apply to the products, however.

183,000 tinned multipacks are bought every day at Tesco stores, with more than 40% of shoppers putting multipacks in their baskets.

The change applies to both Tesco own brand products and branded products, like Heinz Beanz. The move will aim to help more than eight million households in the UK reduce the amount of plastic they use.

Tesco CEO, Dave Lewis, said: “We are removing all unnecessary and non-recyclable plastic from Tesco. As part of this work, removing plastic wrapped multipacks from every Tesco store in the UK will cut 350 tonnes of plastic from the environment every year and customers will still benefit from the same great value ‘multipack’ price. This is part of our plan to remove 1 billion pieces of plastic in 2020.”

The changes will be rolled out in stores from 2nd March, with no further plastic-wrapped multipacks ordered by Tesco from that date.

Georgiana de Noronha, president of Kraft Heinz Northern Europe, said: “We’re excited to be partnering with Tesco on this. While we know we have more to do, this initiative is good news for the environment, and for the millions of people who enjoy Heinz varieties every day, as they’ll still be able to benefit from the same great value for money.”