Page 46 - Demo

SUSTAINABILITY THE GREAT 2020 SUSTAINABILITY RESET Covid-19 has been heralded as a golden opportunity for businesses to reset in the interests of moving forward in a more sustainable way. T he sustainability reset is viewed as the domain of every individual and company, with the retail industry’s role pivotal due to the breadth of its influence on human consumption. To date, many stakeholders in the industry have rallied around to show their support for sustainability-oriented endeavours. These include making use of surplus foods, stabilising shaky industries, promoting renewable energy, manufacturing foods free from genetically modified organisms, focusing on organic agriculture, using recyclable packaging, minimising plastic usage, and making optimal use of Australia’s resources, among many other initiatives. Soft plastic recycling trial Nestlé and Australian recycler iQ Renew 44 RETAIL WORLD NOV, 2020 By Nerine Zoio. have been moving ahead in a trial in which soft plastics are collected through kerbside recycling and diverted from landfill. The aim is to find ways to collect household soft plastic and turn it into a resource, thereby decreasing the amount of this plastic going to landfill. The trial began with 2000 households on the NSW Central Coast, with plans to extend it to around 140,000 homes. Nestlé Oceania Head of Packaging Jacky Nordsvan tells Retail World that within 24 hours of its announcement, the trial “was oversubscribed by double, which is really exciting”. “This is testament to how engaged consumers are, wanting to do something in this space,” she said. She points out that supermarkets churn out more than 900,000 tonnes of plastic a year, of which 300,000 tonnes comprise soft plastics, with 99 per cent of the post-consumer material going to landfill. “Our ambition is to have 100 per cent of our packaging recyclable/reusable by 2025, which means something has to be done in this space,” Ms Nordsvan said. “To put it into context, 85 per cent of our plastics are soft plastics, so we’ve got a vested interest in creating a circular economy for soft plastics.” To deliver on these objectives, Ms Nordsvan says Nestlé is developing the packaging of tomorrow, working with partners to help create a waste-free future, and educating consumers to help change their behaviour. “This initiative fits into a waste-free future, keeping in mind that there’s no point designing for recycling if there isn’t infrastructure to support it, or if