Customers at Sainsbury’s stores across Wiltshire will be able to make their poppies go further this year, by recycling their poppies at an in-store collection point from today.

Following the fundraising success of The Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal, the supermarket chain will be collecting poppies for the first time to be re-used or recycled.

A poppy recycling box will be available in store until November 24 at the Customer Service Desk and all poppies returned will be returned to The Royal British Legion.

If 5 million poppies are returned to Sainsbury’s, this could save The Royal British Legion up to £100,000.

Chippenham Sainsbury’s store manager Bob Upshall said: “The Poppy Appeal was a great success this year for fundraising and we’d like to thank everyone who contributed.

“With this recycling initiative, we wanted to show our customers that they can make their poppy go further and enable the Legion to save. We hope the recycling drive proves a success with our Chippenham customers.”

Sainsbury’s, who have supported the Poppy Appeal for the last 19 years, is the only retailer providing this unique service. 

Catherine Gowers, corporate partnerships manager at The Royal British Legion added: “We’re delighted that in addition to the amazing support we have received from Sainsbury’s for this year’s Poppy Appeal, Sainsbury’s are our corporate partner for this recycling initiative. 

“It’s the first time our supporters can make their poppies go further. We will be using all of the recycled poppies we receive to make new ones or to raise funds from the recycled material, all of which will support next year’s Poppy Appeal.”