Reusable bottles and mugs have been included in the UK’s inflation basket for the first time amid evidence of a rise in sales driven by the desire of consumers to reduce their carbon footprint.

In its annual update to the list of goods and services included in the calculation of the cost of living, the Office for National Statistics said other new items were crumpets, self-tanning products, gluten-free cereals, vegetable crisps and minced turkey.

While there were signs of a drift towards healthier eating and a drop in the use of single-use plastic, the ONS said its changes also reflected Britain’s love of a drink. The 2020 basket includes “cocktails in a can” and sales of gin in restaurants and bars.

The ONS said it was making a number of relatively small changes to the basket. These included the replacement of an MP4 player by a portable digital music player and combining DVD players and Blu-Ray disc player items into one product category.

Items removed from the basket included individual fruit pies, frozen chicken pieces and frozen imported legs of lamb.

The ONS measures inflation by collecting the prices of 720 representative goods and services each month from 140 locations, from the internet and over the phone.

It employs hundreds of fieldworkers across the UK to monitor prices on the same items in the same stores every month. Their research, on items ranging from the price of a joint of beef to gym membership fees are then sent to the ONS office in Newport, Wales, to calculate the rate of inflation.

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Each year the basket of goods and services and the weight given to each item is looked at to ensure the government’s yardstick for the cost of living accurately reflects how consumers are spending their money. Inflationis 1.8%, slightly below the government’s 2% target, with new data due to be published next week.

In 2019, smart speakers and bakeware were added to the basket while envelopes were removed. The previous year, quiche came in but pork pies fell out.

The ONS’s senior statistician, Philip Gooding, said: “This year we have added reusable bottles and mugs to the inflation basket, as there has been a rise in popularity with many consumers looking to decrease their environmental impacts.

“It is important to remember that these annual changes are only a small percentage of the overall basket. This year we’ve added 16 items, removed 14 and modified 4, while leaving 702 unchanged.”