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Shoppers can receive 10p cash back on every returned plastic bottle

Tesco has installed 'reverse vending machines' in five of its UK stores, paying customers 10p for every plastic bottle they bring back for recycling.

Shoppers can return up to 10 bottles at a time, with a maximum daily payout of £1. The bottles are then sent to a local plant for recycling.

The trial scheme launched in Borehamwood Tesco in North London this week. Stores in Manchester, Birmingham, Swansea and Edinburgh are also taking part. If successful, the machines could pop-up in 7,000 Tesco stores nationwide.

The supermarket chain, which is Britain's biggest, will also allow customers to bring their own plastic containers to use at deli counters from next week. Shoppers without reusable plastic containers will have meat, cheese or fish purchases wrapped in paper rather than plastic. This is part of its plan to make its packaging fully recyclable by 2025.

Tesco is the latest big name to increase its efforts to tackle single-use plastic waste. Co-op, Morrisons and Iceland already have similar recycling schemes in place. While John Lewis, Morrisons and Heathrow Airport have joined Greggs, Costa and Starbucks to offer customers carrying a refillable bottle free water top-ups.

Stats released by Water UK on National Refill Day show 85% of the population is worried about the impact single-use plastic is having on the environment.

13 billion plastic bottles are used in the UK each year, with just 7.5 billion recycled. The remaining 5.5 billion end up as landfill or litter, according to government statistics.