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NEWS WOOLWORTHS OFFERS PAPER BAG OPTION AT CHECKOUT Woolworths customers nationwide now have the option of buying paper shopping bags to carry their shopping home in. The new carry bags, trialled at a number of Woolworths stores last year, have been introduced to meet growing customer demand for alternatives that can be easily recycled in household kerbside collection. Claimed to be made from 70 per cent recycled paper, the bags are being sold at 20 cents each, in addition to Woolworths’ Bag for Good reusable plastic bags, and foldable bags. All paper used is said to have been sourced responsibly, as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, with non-recycled paper used in conjunction with recycled paper to provide a stronger structure. The bags, says Woolworths, have been tested to carry up to 6kg worth of groceries. “While the vast majority of our customers bring their own bags, we know customers sometimes drop by a store unplanned or can forget their bags when they’re on the run,” Woolworths Supermarkets Managing Director Claire Peters said. “For some time, customers have told us they’d like the option of a strong paper bag, so we’re pleased to now offer that choice at our checkouts, alongside our existing reusable plastic bags. “These paper bags resonated really well with customers when we trialled them in 20 stores last year and we expect to see a positive response from the customers who’ve been asking for this option nationwide.” According to Woolworths, plans are underway to extend the option of paper bags to the retailer’s online customers for home delivery and pick-up. WOOLWORTHS EXTENDS DAIRY LEVY Woolworths has extended its existing dairy contribution payments on 2lt and 3lt fresh own-brand milk varieties until June 2021. According to the retailer, the 10 cent per litre levy has contributed around $50 million to dairy farmers since it introduced the initiative in 2018. Based on current volumes, these support payments are expected to contribute an extra $30 million to dairy farmers over the next 12 months. The move to extend the support is said to provide certainty to more than 450 dairy farmers supplying milk used in the production of Woolworths branded milk as the federal government’s mandatory code of conduct comes into full effect and drives change in the industry. “Our levy has provided much needed relief to dairy farmers and we’re grateful for our customers’ support of the program,” Woolworths Director of Fresh Food Paul Harker said. “While conditions have improved and farmgate prices have gone up since we started the levy in 2018, we’re extending payments to provide certainty while dairy farmers and processors find their feet under the new mandatory code. “This is set to return tens of millions \[of dollars\] to dairy farmers over the next 12 months above and beyond the farmgate price they’re paid by their processors.” Woolworths will also establish a $5 million fund to provide infrastructure and technology grants to dairy farmers to help improve on-farm efficiency and profitability over the next three years. WOOLWORTHS FURTHER REDUCES PLASTIC PACKAGING Seventy per cent of Australians are continuing to rank taking care of the planet and making sustainable choices as important to them, according to research revealed by Woolworths Group for World Environment Day. To make it easier for customers to continue embracing a greener future, Woolworths has introduced a number of initiatives to further reduce plastic across a wider range of fruit and vegetables, including bananas, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, broccolini, sweet potatoes and organic apples. By moving out of plastic clamshell and into adhesive tape for bananas, replacing rigid plastic trays with pulp fibre on tomatoes, moving to a paper tag on broccolini and reducing plastic film by 30 per cent in weight on carrots and potatoes, Woolworths claims to have removed a further 237 tonnes of plastic packaging in the last year. The tray Woolworths uses for its sweet potatoes and organic apples is now made of recycled cardboard, rather than plastic. Woolworths has also commenced a trial of where it will switch plastic packaging in its popular Fresh Food Kids range of apples, pears, and bananas to easy-to-recycle cardboard boxes. Since Woolworths removed single-use plastic bags in 2018, more than six billion bags are said to have been taken out of circulation. In the past year, says the retailer, around 10,600 shopping trolleys worth of soft plastics have been recycled through its in-store RedCycle program. Woolworths also removed a total of 890 tonnes of plastic from its fruit, vegetables, and bakery ranges over the past two years. According to Woolworths, 100 per cent of its stores now have food waste diversion partners in place and in the last year alone, it has diverted over 33,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill to its food relief partners or donated to farmers as feed stock. JUN, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 13