The breakfast table is about to become a little less cluttered. Sainsbury’s is the first supermarket chain to banish the cardboard cereal box – and has started selling milk in polythene bags.

The step, which ends a century-old tradition, will help to cut packaging on its entire range of products by a third.

The supermarket now plans to sell its own-brand cereals in recyclable plastic packets similar to those used for crisps. Kellogg’s, the biggest cereal manufacturer in the world, is considering following suit.

Its dilemma, however, is whether the packaging will prove sturdy enough to protect Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies from being ground to dust by the time a customer returns home from the shops.

Consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the excessive levels of packaging of some items, such as Easter eggs or pizzas, which are routinely wrapped in layers of plastic and cardboard.

“I’m sick and tired of having to take a chainsaw to packets,” said Martin Salter, a Labour MP who has campaigned against too much packaging.

Sainsbury’s polled more than 1,000 customers to draw up a list of the 10 worst packaged products.

“When it comes to cereal, our customers asked us why they need to be in a box as well as a bag when you can just print all the information on the bag,” said Stuart Lendrum, the retailer’s head of packaging.

The chain has started stocking packets of its basics range of Rice Pops in many stores and hopes to eliminate cardboard boxes for all its own-brand cereals.

Sainsbury’s has also started selling milk in two-pint polythene bags. The containers, which involve 75% less packaging than rigid plastic milk bottles, are common in the United States and can also be found at branches of Waitrose.

Last Friday the bags of Rice Pops met with a mixed response at a Sainsbury’s store in Kensington, west London. “It’s a step in the right direction,” said Attiya Rashid, a mother-of-one. “I’m happy they’ve made this change. Reducing packaging is something I feel is important.”

However, Nicolei Krebs, 32, an IT worker from Denmark, felt the packaging was too flimsy and would result in the cereal being crushed. “The bag definitely provides less protection from damage compared with a box,” he said.

Kellogg’s, which first started selling Corn Flakes in 1906, said it had retained cardboard boxes until now to protect the quality of the cereals, but admitted going boxless was “one of a number of options” it would be considering.

Nestlé, which makes Shredded Wheat and Cheerios, said it had no plans to change the packaging of its cereals.

Britain produces more than 10m tons of waste packaging each year. Tesco has pledged to reduce wrapping 15% by the end of next year, while Sainsbury’s says it is committed to reducing packaging by a third by 2015. It claims this will cut waste by more than 50,000 tons.

Fruit and vegetables were identified by the retailer’s customers as the most overpackaged items.

In future the lids of plastic punnets containing strawberries, apricots, plums and gooseberries will be replaced with a heat-sealed film. This will save 330 tons of plastic each year on strawberry lids alone and will keep fruit fresh for longer, according to Sainsbury’s.

Cherry tomatoes and blueberries will be taken out of plastic trays and sold like bags of nuts, while organic apples will be sold in biodegradable nets rather than plastic bags.

As well as reducing waste, the more compact packaging will allow the supermarket to transport a greater amount of produce in each of its lorries, reducing carbon emissions.

Table manners

- Each Briton eats on average 14lb of cereal a year – equivalent to more than 300 Weetabix biscuits, the most popular brand

- Some 2.8m bowls of Corn Flakes are consumed every day The cardboard packaging produced each year from Corn Flakes alone amounts to more than 5,000 tons. Each box weighs about 3oz

- Overall, the UK disposes of an estimated 10m tons of packaging a year

Additional Reporting: Ben Whitelaw

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