Tesco`s packaging technical manager will speak at next month`s Pro2Pac exhibition about the retailer's work on packaging reduction.

Tesco has set a target to reduce the weight of its packaging by 25% by 2010, compared to a 2005 baseline. Stephen Pizer will use the exhibition at London`s ExCeL to talk about the initiatives the multiple is employing to achieve this reduction.

Pizer said Tesco had already saved 20,000 tonnes of corrugated board through switching to returnable transit packaging rather than single-use.

The retailer has also doubled the concentration of its squash soft drinks, saving around 1,500 tonnes of PET and is using some rPET.

`Where appropriate we will use recycled material, but the critical thing is that the pack is fit for purpose,` said Pizer.

He added that Tesco had no plans to extend its use of bioplastics beyond the organic products already packed in biomaterials.

The 25% reduction target covers all packaging, including primary, retail-ready and transit packaging, but does not include carrier bags.

Pizer added that there were also plans to extend the use of carbon footprint labelling. Tesco introduced carbon footprint labels on 20 products in May last year. `We have been running focus groups and we will use the learnings from those to inform future labelling,` he said.

Pizer will be speaking at 2pm on 18 March. Pro2Pac runs from 15 to 18 March.

For more information visit http://www.pro2pac.co.uk/