To mark World Environment Day, Coles has announced a new three-year partnership with leading environmental not-for-profit, Planet Ark, to help further its efforts to reduce food waste and packaging, and to tackle the challenge of plastic waste and recycling.
Planet Ark is one of Australia’s most trusted environmental organisations and is focused on real solutions that make positive environmental actions accessible to everyone.
The partnership will see the two organisations work together on a range of waste reduction and recycling initiatives, including during National Recycling Week and School Recycle Right Challenge, of which Coles is the major sponsor.
Coles General Manager, Sustainability Brooke Donnelly says the retailer is proud to partner with the not-for-profit and help further Australia’s transition to a more circular economy.
“We are pleased to partner with Planet Ark to help accelerate action on reducing waste, and to support our customers to make sustainable choices in their everyday lives,” Ms Donnelly said.
“Through this partnership, we can significantly assist Planet Ark to boost its program of work, including delivering additional campaigns, events and resources, with the overall aim of driving positive environmental change.
“We understand for many consumers recycling can be confusing, but we’re confident that through this partnership and the work we are doing at Coles to make packaging more reusable, recyclable, and compostable, we can help build trust and understanding for this important process,” she said.
Planet Ark CEO Rebecca Gilling says the partnership with Coles would not only help to spread Planet Ark’s positive environmental actions among Coles customers around Australia, but also to drive positive change across the retailer’s operations.
“Planet Ark is thrilled to be joining forces with Coles as an official community partner, a collaboration that will help to amplify our positive environmental impact throughout Australia as well as bring about lasting positive change for Coles customers and our shared environment,” Ms Gilling said.
“By committing to 100% renewable energy by 2025, pioneering initiatives to combat unnecessary packaging, and championing the Australasian Recycling Label, Coles has firmly established itself as a leader in driving positive environmental transformation.
“We look forward to working together to accelerate this ongoing transition to a circular economy and elevate Coles’ leadership in sustainability to new heights,” she said.
The partnership announcement comes as Coles has added the Australasian Recycle Label (ARL) to the packaging artwork across all Own Brand products. The ARL provides Australians with easy-to-understand recycling information that helps to remove confusion at the recycling bin, save time for users and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Recently Coles also announced it will phase out soft plastic bags both in-store and online by the end of June, a move that will remove 230 million plastic bags from circulation in one year. In addition, the retailer is supporting the delivery of Australia’s national packaging targets of 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
Coles is a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant and a Member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), tasked with delivering Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets, the aim of which is to drive the transition to a circular economy.
Other Coles partners with a focus on improving environmental outcomes include the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Clean Up Australia.
