Pick n Pay says it will significantly reduce the impact of single-use plastic and packaging as it aims to be 100% recyclable by 2025.<\/p>\n
Paula Disberry, retail executive: commercial at Pick n Pay, said that extensive work has been done to ensure that a significant proportion of packaging on its own-brand products includes recycled materials.<\/p>\n
This has extended into its deli and bakery sections and, on a trial basis, selected stores have replaced polystyrene takeaway boxes with foil and cardboard boxes, she said.<\/p>\n
The company is also piloting an entire Packaging-Free Zone in its Constantia store in Cape Town. Customers can \u2018pick and weigh\u2019 over 88 products across 15 different categories from cereals and pasta to olive oil, Disberry said.<\/p>\n
In 2019 the retailer began trialling innovative initiatives to remove packaging altogether from selected products. This includes ‘nude fruit and vegetable’ produce walls which are now available in 29 stores.<\/p>\n
These offer loose seasonal produce that was previously only available in packaging.<\/p>\n
Disberry said that Pick n Pay has also seen a positive shift in plastic bags.<\/p>\n
“Our reusable netted produce bags have been particularly popular with customers with more than 100,000 being sold last year.<\/p>\n
“We also sold 2.3 million reusable bags – a 50% year-on-year increase when compared to 2018. Our new R4 reusable bags, made from green recycled PET bottles, have played a significant role in driving the shift from a plastic shopping bag to a reusable bag.”<\/p>\n
Regulations<\/strong><\/p>\n At the end of January, government said it is looking at a number of policy interventions to cut down on the environmental impact of plastics in South Africa.<\/p>\n The Department of Environmental Affairs is looking at amending the current policies around plastic shopping bags in South Africa as well as the introduction of legislation around single-use plastics.<\/p>\n “We are busy with initiatives on plastic bag policy assessment, where we want to determine a new policy direction and to inform amendments to existing policy instruments governing the production and sale of plastic carrier bags,” said \u00a0Oceans and Coast deputy-director general Judy Beaumont.<\/p>\n “We are also assessing the extent of single-use plastics waste with a view to propose policy options for addressing its environmental impacts.”<\/p>\n
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