Coles has reaffirmed its commitment to packaging sustainability by joining the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Plastics Pact (ANZPAC) as a founding member.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact is a collaborative solution for a circular economy for plastic, where plastic never becomes waste or pollution.
Led by The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), the new Pact commits Coles to four clear, actionable targets by 2025, including:
- Eliminating unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging
- Ensuring 100 per cent of plastic packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable
- Increasing the current volume of plastic packaging collected and effectively recycled by at least 25 per cent
- Ensuring an average of 25 per cent recycled content is in plastic packaging across the region.
By joining the ANZPAC Plastics Pact, Coles joins a group of leading packaging manufacturers, resource recovery leaders, government institutions and retailers representing the complete plastics value chain. Together they are working towards a shared vision of a circular economy for plastic.
The partnership will help fulfil Coles’ recently launched Together to Zero sustainability strategy, committing to deliver net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and long-term aspiration towards zero waste and zero hunger, according to Coles Commercial and Express chief executive Greg Davis.
“As one of Australia’s largest retailers, Coles understands the importance of working collaboratively to find a more sustainable future for plastic packaging. Following the launch of our new Together to Zero sustainability strategy, we have an ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket, working with our suppliers, customers and other stakeholders towards zero waste,” Davis said.
“As a founding member of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact, we now have an opportunity to build and shape meaningful change through plastic packaging and move towards a circular plastic economy as a global community.”
“A huge congratulations to Coles on joining the ANZPAC Plastics Pact as a founding Member. ANZPAC is a collaborative program that unites businesses, policymakers and NGOs behind a shared vision of a circular economy for plastic, where it never becomes waste or pollution,” APCO CEO Brooke Donnelly said.
“The ambitious new cross-regional program will work to fundamentally transform our response to plastic by eliminating the plastics we don’t need, innovating to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating the plastic we use, keeping it in the economy and out of the environment.
“As one of our founding members, Coles will be one of the leading retail voices throughout this journey, helping us to build and shape a program that delivers meaningful change on the plastics issues. I encourage all of you to follow Coles’ lead and be part of the new approach to plastic in the Oceania region,” she said.
Coles has recently committed to remove all single use plastic tableware from its stores by 1 July 2021. They also announced a joint feasibility study into an Australian-first advanced recycling facility in March, turning soft plastic back into oil to produce new food packaging.