Sainsbury’s is to roll out new multimillion-pound check-out technology across 330 of its stores, the supermarket giant announced today.

The retailer claimed the new bi-optic scanners – which "can read the barcode from a number of different angles" – would cut customers' queuing time by 12% – or 500,000 hours a year.

Double-sided printing will reduce the amount of paper used on labels by more than 350 tonnes a year.

Roger Burnley, Sainsbury’s retail and logistics director said consumers would appreciate the retailer’s commitment to the environment.

The news marks the latest effort by a major supermarket to improve efficiency, with Sainsbury’s last year ushering in self-scan technology to more than 240 of its stores.