28 April 2021
Sustainability
South Africa
  • Background: Woolworths continues to outphase single-use plastics at 52 additional stores in Gauteng, the Western Cape and the North West, as part of its campaign to make all its packaging reusable or recyclable by the end of April.
  • Description:  Woolworths’ vision is to have zero packaging waste-to-landfill and for all packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2022. To reach this goal, first announced in 2018, the department store company started using less packaging, less plastic material in packaging, all while ensuring that all out-packaging is recyclable. At the same time, it also launched R5 reusable fabric black bags, made from recycled plastic bottles to replace the plastic bags. 
  • Impact: The 52 additional stores take the total number of outlets that have dropped single-use plastics to over 200. The use of reusable fabric bags has also resulted in hundreds of thousands of recycled plastic bottles being used in the manufacturing of these bags. 

Photos courtesy of Business Insider SA