Marks and Spencer is introducing a reusable container incentive for fresh food-to-go at its Market Place counters in what’s believed to be a first for a major retailer.

The new scheme is part of the retailer’s plan to slash single-use packaging and will incentivise customers to bring their own reusable containers to M&S’ Market Place by offering a 25p discount off each meal.

The aim is to encourage a change in consumer behaviour and reduce the use of disposable items on the high street, as new research by IGD reveals the food-to-go sector is set to grow by 26.4% by 2024.

The Market Place concept features in 23 stories in busy city centres and offers a variety of hot and cold lunch-to-go options.

“Our priority is to reduce single-use packaging and ensure any we do use can be reused or recycled, as we work towards our 2022 target for all our packaging to be widely recyclable,” said Paul Willgoss, Director of Food Technology at M&S.

“Food-to-go is a growing market; so finding solutions in this space is an important part of our wider plan.

“Our Market Place containers are already widely recyclable, but we want to go a step further with the introduction of an incentive to encourage customers to switch to reusable containers.”