Soft plastics – including bread bags, cling film, biscuit wrappers and carrier bags – can now be recycled at the Co-op store in Berrow as it becomes one of the first local convenience stores in the Burnham area to offer an extended recycling service.
Southern Co-op says that in response to customer demand it now has soft plastics recycling bins in 21 stores across Somerset and Bristol. It hopes the introduction of soft plastics recycling bins will enable more people in the Burnham-On-Sea area to recycle materials that can’t be recycled at home.
It says that once collected, the recyclable material is sent to a company called Jayplas who turn it into post-consumer plastic granules. These are then made into secondary products such as bin liners, buckets, and construction industry materials.
Flexible plastic makes up 22% of all UK consumer product packaging and yet 87% of UK local authorities do not collect it for recycling, according to a recent report by the Changing Markets Foundation.
Simon Eastwood, Chief Operating Officer for Retail at Southern Co-op, says: “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. One way to do this is the scrunch test and 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.”
The Co-op is one of nine UK supermarkets to offer soft plastic collection points in stores, the others being Aldi, Tesco, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
The Co-op says examples of acceptable items for its recycling project include: 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 crumpet etc, 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, and packaging from baby wipes and similar.
Gemma Lacey, Director of Sustainability and Communications at Southern Co-op, adds: “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.”
