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our consumers put it in the wrong bin,” she said. “To date there hasn’t been much happening to address what’s going in the landfill bin, with about 22 per cent of landfill bin volume being soft plastics.” Households participating in the trial are set to collect their clean soft plastics in a purpose-made, bright yellow ‘Curby’ bag, which they will tie up, tag and place in their yellow recycling bin for pick-up with their regular recycling collection when full. Tags will identify the bags and help to improve the sorting process, ensuring they can be separated from other recyclables. The soft plastics will then be shredded and become a resource for use in other plastic products, chemical recycling and energy recovery. Danial Gallagher, CEO of iQ Renew, says the trial will indicate whether loose plastics can be kept separate from other recyclables, whether the bags can survive relocation, and whether regular shopping bags can be used. Nestlé Australia CEO Sandra Martinez says that with soft plastics making up 30 per cent of the plastic packaging used in Australia, the company wants to be part of finding new approaches to boosting the recycling of soft plastic packaging. “While Nestlé wants to reduce its use of virgin plastics and increase our use of recycled packaging, this won’t happen without robust collection, sorting and processing systems,” she said. “Experience in Australia and around the world shows that people are more likely to recycle when it’s easy to access, and that kerbside is most successful.” Ms Martinez says that since the trial was first announced at the National Plastics Summit in March, Nestlé has had many approaches from the waste and recycling industries, local governments, packaging manufacturers and other companies making packaged goods, wanting to know more. Nestlé Oceana Head of Corporate and External Relations Margaret Stuart tells Retail World the initiative has sparked “intense” interest from local governments and companies throughout the chain of stakeholder organisations. “We’re obviously really hopeful that we can make a difference here with something that’s workable into the future and provides solutions for the future,” she said. “If we don’t manage that, we’ll still learn new things that will help us find a path going forward.” TO PAGE 46 SUSTAINABILITY ”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.” Reduced costs Improved supply chain Sustainable Get more from your supply chain Castlegate James has championed sustainability for over 90 years. We’re the largest dedicated converter of food and beverage by-products in Australasia, supporting manufacturers to realise the value of by-product and in turn we create nutritious feeds for the Australian livestock sector. We understand the importance of having reliable production, scheduling and logistics. Purchasing from a diverse range of food and beverage suppliers, we can tailor a compliant supply chain solution to suit your co-product collection requirements. We provide 24/7 production support through a national logistics and customer ready network. Even better, our team manage it all so your team don’t have to. Castlegate James are ready to discuss how we can create additional value and sustainability for your business. Find out how we can deliver added value for your business Call us on 1300 786 253 | castlegatejames.com.au NOV, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 45