Waste management group, Wrap, is currently running a host of awareness raising activities for its annual Recycle Week, and supermarket and convenience chain Southern Co-op is playing its part by upping the number of permanent soft plastic recycling facilities across its stores.
Soft plastics, such as cling film, biscuit wrappers and carrier bags, can now be recycled at 167 Co-op stores in the south of England.
Away from Recycle Week, these collection bins have been cropping up in supermarkets across the UK, including in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Marks & Spencer stores. Businesses are helping consumers dispose of the material that is not typically collected for recycling at curbside by local councils, and then working with waste management partners to process it and bring the would-be waste plastic back into use.
For Co-op, the waste management partner is Jayplas, which promises to turn the plastic collected into post-consumer plastic granules. These are then made into secondary products such as bin liners, buckets, and construction industry materials.
Stated examples of acceptable soft plastic items collected by the Co-op highlight the breadth of items that can be recycled through the retailer’s programme. They are, as follows:
- Bread bags
- Produce bags
- Ordinary carrier bags
- Wrappers around kitchen towel and toilet roll
- Bags that nappies come in
- Bags from cotton wool
- Cereal box liners
- Bags from frozen foods
- Bags from ice cubes
- Lids on yogurts, cream and desserts
- Lids from packs of meat and ready meals
- Lidding film from cheese packs
- Wrapping around chicken
- Fruit and veg flow wrap
- Chocolate wrappers
- Wrappers from croissants, pancakes, and crumpets
- Biscuit wrappers
- Wrappers from cakes and Yorkshire puddings
- Flower wrappers
- Bags from dried fruit, sugar, pulses, rice and pasta
- Protective wrappers from gift wrap
- Bags from gift tags
- Pastry packaging
- Bags from household textiles and similar such as all-purpose cloths, dusters, dishcloths, rubber gloves, and scourers
- Wrappers from pet food
- Wrappers from pies, pasties and sausage rolls
- Bagged sweets
- Pizza wrappers
- Bags from porridge and muesli pouches
- Packaging from baby wipes and similar
Simon Eastwood, chief operating officer for retail at Southern Co-op, said: “We started to trial these towards the end of last year and they have been really well received by both customers and colleagues.
“We would ask recyclers to double check if their plastics can be recycled before putting it in the bin. It also needs to have had a quick clean but it doesn’t need to have been bought in store to be recycled with us.”
Co-op Food nationwide has made its own-brand food packaging recyclable through a combination of kerbside collections and soft plastic recycling in store.
Gemma Lacey, director of sustainability & communications at Southern Co-op, commented: “We all need to do our bit to ensure our future is waste free.
“We are really pleased with how the trials of soft plastic recycling has gone so far and are now keen to enable more people to make use of it. We know the appetite for change is there within our communities and together we can all play our part in making a positive difference to our environment and our communities.”
List of Southern Co-op stores containing soft plastic recycling bins:
Berkshire
The Co-operative Food in:
- Binfield’s Forest Road
- Lambourn’s High Street
- Newbury’s Brummell Road and Pound Street
- Windsor’s Arthur Road
- Wokingham’s Market Place
Bristol and Somerset
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bristol’s Ashley Down Road, Church Road, Long Down Avenue, School Road, Two Mile Hill Road, Wells Road, and Whiteladies Road
- Banwell’s Knightcott Road
- Bath’s Widcombe Hill
- Bedminster’s North Street
- Bridgwater’s Stockmoor Drive
- Burnham on Sea’s Berrow Road
- Cotford St Luke’s Graham Way
- Frome’s Nunney Road
- Keynsham’s Queens Road
- Nailsea’s Hannah More Road
- Norton Fitzwarren’s Morse Road
- Pill’s Baltic Place
- Portishead’s Port Marine
- Taunton’s Wellington New Road
- Yeovil’s Mudford Road
Devon
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bow’s Burston Cross Road
- Cranbrook’s Younghayes Road
- Exeter’s Alphington Road and Buddle Lane
- Exmouth’s Exeter Road
Dorset
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bearwood’s King John Avenue
- Blandford’s Salisbury Road
- Bournemouth’s Belle Vue Road, Castle Lane, East Howe Lane, and Madeira Road Creekmoor’s Northmead Drive
- Poole’s Ringwood Road and Tatnam Road
- Portland’s Weston Road
- Sturminster’s Station Road
- Verwood’s Ringwood Road
- Weymouth’s Chickerell Road
- Wimborne’s Wimborne Road
East Sussex
The Co-operative Food in:
- Eastbourne’s Beatty Road, Lindfield Road, and Seaside
- Brighton’s Bramber House in Falmer
- Hove’s Old Shoreham Road, Portland Road, and Western Road
- Portslade’s Abinger Road
- St Leonards’s Battle Road 290 and Battle Road 100
- Wadhurst’s Sparrows Green Road
Hampshire
The Co-operative Food in:
- Alderholt’s Ringwood Road
- Aldershot’s Lower Farnham Road
- Alresford’s West Street
- Alton’s High Street
- Andover’s East Anton Farm Road, and Picket Twenty
- Basingstoke’s Kings Road and Wallingford Road
- Beggarwood’s Broadmere Road
- Bishops Waltham’s High Street
- Boyatt Wood’s The Parade
- Bridgemary’s Gregson Avenue
- Chandlers Ford’s Falkland Court
- Church Crookham’s Aldershot Road
- Clanfield’s White Dirt Lane
- Cowplain’s London Road
- Crookhorn’s The Precinct
- Denmead’s Hambledon Road
- Drayton’s Havant Road
- Eastleigh’s Leigh Road
- Emsworth’s High Street
- Fairoak’s Sandy Lane
- Fareham’s Gudge Heath Lane
- Four Marks’s Winchester Road
- Gosport’s Dartmouth Court, Forton Road, and Palmyra Road
- Havant’s Middle Park Way and St Albans Road
- Hayling Island’s Elm Grove
- Holbury’s Long Lane
- Lee on Solent’s High Street and Twyford Drive
- Liphook’s Headley Road
- Lyndhurst’s High Street
- North Baddesley’s Seymour Parade
- Odiham’s High Street
- Overton’s Winchester Street
- Portchester’s White Hart Lane
- Portsmouth’s Copnor Road, Eastney Road, Elm Grove, Fawcett Road, Great Southsea Street, New Road, Highland Road, Tangier Road, Twyford Avenue, Western Road, and Winter Road
- Purbrook’s London Road
- Romsey’s Abbotswood Common Road, Botley Road, The Hundred, and Winchester Hill Rooksdown’s Limes Park
- Southampton’s City Gateway, Commercial Road, High Street, Hursley Road, and Main Road
- Tadley’s Franklin Avenue
- West End’s High Street
- Westbourne’s The Square
- Whiteley’s Yew Tree Drive
- Wickham’s The Square
Isle of Wight
The Co-operative Food in:
- Carisbrooke’s High Street
- Cowes’s Mill Hill Road
- Ryde’s West Street
- Shanklin’s Regent Street
Kent
The Co-operative Food in:
- Ashford’s Loudon Way
- Lenham’s Faversham Road
- Minster’s Monkton Road
- Sidcup’s The Oval
- Whitstable’s Cromwell Road
London
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bromley’s Homesdale Road
- Chislehurst’s White Horse Hill
- Shirley’s Orchard Way
Surrey
The Co-operative Food in:
- Addlestone’s Church Road and New Haw Road
- Banstead’s Nork Way
- Camberley’s Frimley Road
- Chertsey’s Fordwater Road
- Chobham’s Bagshot Road
- Farnham’s Farnborough Road
- Oxted’s Station Road
- Staines’s Laleham Road
- West Ewell’s Ruxley Lane
- Wrecclesham’s Wrecclesham Road
West Sussex
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bognor Regis’s Hawthorn Road and Rose Green Road
- Bosham’s Delling Lane
- Broadbridge Heath’s Wickhurst Square
- Burgess Hill’s Junction Road and London Road
- Chichester’s Bognor Road, Lavant Road, Oliver Whitby Road, Spitalfield Lane, and Stockbridge Road
- East Wittering’s Cakeham Road
- Ferring’s Ferring Street
- Haywards Heath’s Franklynn Road
- Horsham’s Guildford Road
- Selsey’s High Street
- Yapton’s Main Road
Wiltshire
The Co-operative Food in:
- Bradford On Avon’s Winsley Road
- Corsham’s Macie Drive
- Mere’s The Square
- Old Sarum’s Crosier Close
It’s Recycle Week, read more about retailer recycling schemes on Green Retail World
[Image credit: Co-op]
