More Places To Recycle Soft Plastics In Sussex As Co-Op Increases Bins In Stores

Soft plastics, such as cling film, biscuit wrappers and carrier bags, can now be recycled in even more co-operative convenience store locations in East and West Sussex.

The increase comes after a number of successful trials and due to customer demand as kerbside collections in Sussex generally don't include these items.

Southern Co-op now has soft plastics recycling bins in all 11 of its stores in East Sussex and 17 stores in West Sussex - a total of 167 across the south of England and 80% of all its stores.

Simon Eastwood, Chief Operating Officer for Retail at Southern Co-op, said:

"We started to trial these towards the end of last year and they have been really well received by both customers and colleagues.

"We would ask recyclers to double check if their plastics can be recycled before putting it in the bin. One way to do this is the scrunch test. It also needs to have had a quick clean but it doesn't need to have been bought in store to be recycled with us."

All Co-op branded food packaging is now easy to recycle through a combination of kerbside collections and soft plastic recycling in store.

Once collected, the recyclable material is sent to a company called Jayplas which will turn it into post-consumer plastic granules. These are then made into secondary products such as bin liners, buckets, and construction industry materials.

Examples of acceptable items for recycling include: Bread bags, produce bags, ordinary carrier bags, wrappers around kitchen towel and toilet roll, bags that nappies come in, bags from cotton wool, cereal box liners, bags from frozen foods, bags from ice cubes, lids on yogurts, cream and desserts, lids from packs of meat and ready meals, lidding film from cheese packs, wrapping around chicken, fruit and veg flow wrap, chocolate wrappers, wrappers from croissants, pancakes and crumpet etc, biscuit wrappers, wrappers from cakes and Yorkshire puddings, flower wrappers, bags from dried fruit, sugar, pulses, rice and pasta, protective wrappers from gift wrap, bags from gift tags, pastry packaging, bags from household textiles and similar such as all-purpose cloths, dusters, dishcloths, rubber gloves and scourers, wrappers from pet food, wrappers from pies, pasties and sausage rolls, bagged sweets, pizza wrappers, bags from porridge and muesli pouches, and packaging from baby wipes and similar.

Gemma Lacey, Director of Sustainability and Communications at Southern Co-op, said:

"We all need to do our bit to ensure our future is waste free. We are really pleased with how the trials of soft plastic recycling has gone so far and are now keen to enable more people to make use of it.

"We know the appetite for change is there within our communities and together we can all play our part in making a positive difference to our environment and our communities."

Stores in East Sussex with soft plastic recycling bins include:

The Co-operative Food in Eastbourne's Beatty Road, Lindfield Road and Seaside, Brighton's Bramber House in Falmer, Hove's Old Shoreham Road, Portland Road and Western Road, Portslade's Abinger Road, St Leonards's Battle Road 290 and Battle Road 100, and Wadhurst's Sparrows Green Road.

Stores in West Sussex with soft plastic recycling bins include:

The Co-operative Food in Bognor Regis's Hawthorn Road and Rose Green Road, Bosham's Delling Lane, Broadbridge Heath's Wickhurst Square, Burgess Hill's Junction Road and London Road, Chichester's Bognor Road, Lavant Road, Oliver Whitby Road, Spitalfield Lane and Stockbridge Road, East Wittering's Cakeham Road, Ferring's Ferring Street, Haywards Heath's Franklynn Road, Horsham's Guildford Road, Selsey's High Street, and Yapton's Main Road.

All store waste is already diverted from landfill with dry mixed items separated for recycling and food broken down to produce biogas and bio-fertiliser through anaerobic digestion.

This is one area of work which forms part of Southern Co-op's climate action activity. It also has ambitious science based targets to cut direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from its business by 2030.

To view Southern Co-op's commitment to climate change and responsible business strategy, visit https://southern.coop/how-we-do-it/sustainability.