Waitrose has unveiled its vision of environmentally conscious shopping, offering customers the chance to buy food and drink that is completely free of packaging as part of a ground-breaking trial for a large retailer.

In a new drive to try to eliminate unnecessary plastic and packaging, shoppers will be able to fill their own containers with a range of products from a series of dispensers using a dedicated refill station, one of the first to be installed by a major UK supermarket.

In a trial starting this week at a Waitrose supermarket in Oxford, customers are being given refillable options for products including wine and beer, rice and cleaning materials, with prices typically 15% cheaper than the packaged alternatives.

A standalone pick and mix range of frozen fruit and a borrow-a-box scheme to help carry shopping home are other new retail formats being tested by Waitrose at the Botley Road shop.

Waitrose has transformed the store by removing hundreds of products from their packaging, although shoppers will still be able to buy the packaged versions if they wish.

Plastic waste has become a major environmental issue, with television programmes such as Blue Planet exposing its detrimental effects on the oceans, and media coverage highlighting the dangers of a global plastic binge.

Waitrose is among the UK’s supermarkets which have signed up to the UK Plastics Pact – an industry-wide initiative to transform packaging and reduce avoidable plastic waste. However, retailers have been criticised for not doing more to tackle the issue at an earlier stage.

“This test has potential to shape how people might shop with us in the future so it will be fascinating to see which concepts our customers have an appetite for,” said Waitrose’s Tor Harris.

Quick guide Plastics and our throwaway society Show Hide Why is plastic being demonised? Since the 1950s, 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced. Plastic is seen as a versatile, indispensable product, but the environmental impact is becoming more stark. Plastic is now so pervasive that recycling systems cannot keep up and the leakage into the environment is such that by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish. In 2017 scientists found plastic fibres in tap water, and plastic has been found in the stomachs of sea creatures in the deepest part of the ocean. Most plastic waste ends up in landfill sites or leaks into the natural environment, where it is causing huge damage to eco-systems on land and sea, creating near permanent contamination. According to academics in the United States, by 2015, of all the plastic waste generated since the 1950s, only 9% has been recycled, with 12% incinerated and 79% accumulated in landfill sites or the environment. Why are the supermarkets under fire? Producers of plastic include retailers, drinks companies and supermarkets. Supermarkets create more than half of the plastic waste in the household stream in the UK. But they refuse to reveal how much they put on to the streets and how much they pay towards recycling it. Supermarkets are under pressure to reduce their plastic packaging and campaigners argue they have the power to turn off the tap. Much of the packaging they sell to consumers is not recyclable: plastic film, black plastic trays, sleeves on drinks bottles and some coloured plastic. The Recycling Association and other experts believe supermarkets could do much more to make packaging 100% recyclable and reduce the use of plastic. Who pays to clean up the waste? The taxpayer, overwhelmingly. UK producers and retailers pay among the lowest towards recycling and dealing with their waste in Europe. In other countries, the “polluter” is forced to pay much more. In France, a sliding system of charges means those who put more non- recyclable material on the market pay more. What can shoppers do to help? Supermarkets are under pressure, not least from the prime minister, to create plastic-free aisles. A growing number of zero-waste shops are springing up and consumers are being encouraged to ask for products to be sold without plastic. Sandra Laville Photograph: ermingut/E+

Ariana Densham, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “This is a genuinely bold step from Waitrose to trial food dispensers so customers can use refillable tubs and jars. Lots of supermarkets are starting to sell loose fruit and vegetables, but this kind of innovation could spark a refill culture that’s so desperately needed to cut plastics in mainstream shops.

“The top 10 UK supermarkets produce 810,000 tonnes of throwaway packaging each year, so we need to see other major retailers taking plastic reduction seriously and following Waitrose’s lead.”

A choice of 160 loose fruit and vegetables will be available, along with four different wines and four beers on tap to be taken home in reusable bottles and nearly 30 products including pasta, rice, grains, couscous, lentils, cereals, dried fruit and seeds available from dispensers.

The “unpackaged” model relying on refills has already been adopted by some independent retailers, delicatessens and farm shops but this is the first time it is being used at a national supermarket chain.

For the borrow-a-box scheme, customers will pay a £5 deposit which is refundable when the container is returned. A frozen pick and mix section initially selling fruit such as blueberries and mango will encourage shoppers to bring in their own containers.

• This article was amended on 6 June 2019. An earlier version referred to the refill station in Waitrose as the first trial of its kind in a major UK supermarket. That overlooked Morrisons, which has a similar trial in two Yorkshire stores (Guiseley and Skipton), although it has chosen not to publicise these until they have been fully evaluated.