SPAR UK has marked today’s World Environment Day by revealing that a recent revamp of its own label packaging has removed nearly 300 tonnes of virgin plastic from 53 products, prevented over 100 tonnes of black plastic going in landfill, and led to the adding of recycling information on over 700 lines.
Commenting on the progress made by SPAR to reduce its use of plastic, the convenience retailer’s Head of CSR Cath McIlwham said: “A year ago we made a huge commitment to eliminate black plastic from our SPAR own label packaging range by the end of 2020 and we are delighted to be working well ahead of our target.
“We know that protecting the planet for the future is important to our customers and retailers and we have shown how committed we are to reducing the amount of plastic we use and ensuring packaging is recyclable where possible,”
SPAR has a number of additional environmental initiatives in place, including offering re-usable carrier bags which include recycled content. It also has a more durable bag which is made from recycled plastic bottles. The convenience store group is also trialling both a paper carrier bag and a compostable bag.
SPAR has made further commitments to reach by 2025. These include eliminating single-use plastic altogether from its own label range. Have an average of 30% recycled content in plastic packaging and ensure 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
Initiatives to date have included using more recycled plastic in packaging for water, cider and mixer lines. The group also prevented over 100 tonnes of black plastic going to landfill by replacing it in 45 products with other alternatives such as clear plastic, or recycled plastic. Its own label ready meal trays now include 80% recycled material and are fully recyclable.
McIlwham added: “We know that being environmentally friendly is a really important area of concern for our customers. Our research showed that our customers wanted more information on recycling and as a result we are putting the OPRL (on-pack recycling logo) on all our own label packaging.”
NAM Implications:
- It hopefully goes without saying that suppliers that cannot/will not comply…
- …have to be candidates for deselection…
- …with other retail customers to follow suit.
- A pointer for all?
