Australia's Woolworths & Pact join hands to boost recycled packaging

The partnership being developed between Woolworths and Pact is expected to represent a multimillion-dollar investment in local recycling and manufacturing capacity. Projections that the partnership could see 18,000 tonnes of newly made plastic replaced with locally-produced recycled plastic each year would relate to an estimated decrease in carbon emissions of almost 25,000 tonnes (equivalent to planting more than 37,000 trees) and a saving of almost 500 Olympic swimming pools-worth of water annually, Woolworths said in a media statement.

The intent of the proposed partnership is to establish Pact as Woolworths’ key strategic partner by volume in its efforts to deliver more sustainable packaging across its own brand range and deliver the most significant boost to date towards Woolworths’ goal to halve the use of virgin (new) plastic across its own brand packaging by 2024.

Pact currently operates five plastic recycling facilities in Australia, including the recently opened PET recycling plant in Albury-Wodonga. Another four facilities are planned for construction by 2025.

“As Australia’s largest retailer we have a responsibility to make the products our customers put in their shopping baskets better for the environment. We’re working hard to remove plastic from packaging, however it can be necessary to protect quality and food safety in some products - which is why replacing it with recycled plastic is the next best thing,” Woolworths’ managing director of format and network development, Rob McCartney, said.

“Across the scale of our range, the real challenge is sourcing quality recycled material in the volumes we need and ensuring it’s coming from within Australia to support the development of our local circular economy and avoid shipping emissions. We’re working with Pact on a partnership that would propel us closer towards our sustainable packaging goal than we’ve ever been before, while also helping to grow the Australian recycling industry to meet demand in the years to come,” McCartney added.

“We know that consumers and businesses are increasingly demanding recycled and recyclable plastic packaging and Pact is working with committed partners like Woolworths to drive that change. Plastic packaging that is designed effectively, that is recyclable and recycled properly in Australia can be used again and again, creating a truly local circular economy for plastics,” Pact CEO and managing director, Sanjay Dayal, said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)