GREEN activists are planning to hand back unwanted packaging to an Oxford supermarket today.

The action, organised by Oxfordshire Greenpeace, aims to pressure Tesco and other major supermarkets into ditching single-use plastic, amid environmental concerns about its spread.

Shoppers and the group will return customers’ unwanted packaging back to the superstore in Oxford Retail Park, as part of Greenpeace UK's campaign to 'end ocean plastic'.

Pointless plastic given back to Tesco READ THE UPDATE HERE

The issue came to public prominence following David Attenborough's Blue Planet series, which highlighted the dangers plastic poses to marine wildlife. BBC show 'Drowning in plastic' caused further alarm.

In Oxfordshire, a number of companies and groups have come together to discourage use of single-use plastic, with various coffee shops and start-ups taking aim at coffee cups, straws and packaging.

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From 11.30am this morning, local Greenpeace members will campaign with the help of a a trolley full of packaging from customers’ goods at Tesco.

UK supermarkets create over 800,000 tonnes of single use plastic waste every year. Nearly 900,000 people have signed Greenpeace’s petition calling on supermarkets to ditch single use plastic.

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A Tesco spokesperson said: “We know from our customers this is an important issue and we are working hard to make all our packaging part of a closed loop. This means materials will be used, reused and recycled. This year we will have removed the hardest to recycle materials from Tesco and all our packaging will be fully recyclable by 2025, sooner in the UK.”