Coles Lutwyche has been named among the most dedicated soft plastic recyclers, as the amount of soft plastic collected at Coles increased by 32 percent in 2018.
The latest Sustainability Report by Coles revealed that customers have recycled a total of 905 tonnes or 226 million pieces of soft plastics — including packing which cannot be recycled through most kerbside recycling services such as biscuit packets, lolly bags, frozen food bags and bread, rice, and pasta bags. That’s enough plastic to go around the world one and a half times, the report said.
State by State, VIC was the top state with 266,690kgs of soft plastic recycled, followed by NSW with 254,392kgs and SA & NT with 152,281kgs. Queensland, on the other hand, recycled a total of 106,690kgs of soft plastic.
The top Qld Coles stores include (Qld Coles Store / Recycling amounts in kg):
- Kenmore / 2,506
- Indooroopilly / 2,496
- Fairfield / 2,295
- Greenslopes / 2,190
- Arana Hills / 2,183
- The Gap / 2,071
- Aspley Hypermarket / 1,999
- Toowong / 1,986
- Corinda / 1,887
- Lutwyche / 1,802
Soft plastic collected at Coles is used as a raw material by REDcycle partners such as Australian manufacturers, Replas, and Plastic Forests for a range of uses like playground benches, garden edging, wheel stops, walkways in parks, bollards, and even the customer seats used in Coles supermarkets.
Coles Chief Property and Export Officer Thinus Keeve said that reducing waste has become a significant issue for customers which resulted in the increase in use of REDcycle bins.
“We know that recycling is important to our customers, and we are seeing many people changing their habits to reduce waste that ends up in landfills.”
He furthered that since Cole partnered with REDcycle in 2011, customers have recycled enough pieces of plastic to go around the world five times.
“We want to become Australia’s most sustainable retailer, so we are looking at ways to divert even more waste from landfill and reduce packaging.”
“The beauty of this program is its simplicity. We’re not asking people to change their routines – it’s just a matter of remembering to take their plastic packaging with them next time they visit their local Coles supermarket. And we were delighted to roll out our bins to Coles supermarkets across the country, it’s made a huge difference,” RED Group Director of Development Elizabeth Kasell said.
