Environment

In June 2018, we committed to:

• Halve food waste in Coles supermarkets by 2020;
• Connect all Coles supermarkets with a food rescue organisation by the end of 2018;
• Provide 100 million meals to Australians in need by 2020; and
• Work with suppliers to reduce food waste.

The majority of our supermarkets and distribution centres already donate edible, unsold grocery, fresh produce, meat, dairy and bakery items to food rescue organisations in communities across Australia.

Through our national partnership with SecondBite, Coles supermarkets have donated more than 50 million kilograms of unsold edible food, equating to 100 million meals, between 2011 and 2020. Between 2003 and 30 June 2019, Coles supermarkets also donated the equivalent of more than 29.9 million meals to Foodbank.

Some organic waste from supermarkets that cannot be directed to food rescue is sent to anaerobic digestion plants in Western Australia and New South Wales where it is converted into clean energy and certified compost.

We are working with suppliers to reduce their food waste by redirecting produce that cannot be sold to other value-added products such as Coles Own Brand zucchini noodles, sweet potato noodles, sweet potato chips and broccoli and cauliflower rice.

Coles Own Brand range of banana products, including frozen banana pieces, banana bread and muffins, use bananas that might otherwise have gone to waste.

These new products help reduce food waste and increase overall crop yields by utilising vegetable pieces that typically would not be sold at retail level.

By mapping food waste in the supply chain and at farms, Coles is identifying opportunities to make a positive difference.

In conjunction with REDcycle, we offer a soft plastic recycling program in all Coles supermarkets nationally. We were the first major Australian supermarket to roll out the program to all stores.

Customers can recycle plastic bags as well as a wide range of other soft plastic packaging that cannot be recycled through most household kerbside recycling services.

Coles Online customers can give their soft plastics to their customer service agent who will return it for recycling through REDcycle.

Since the program began in 2011, Coles and its customers have diverted more than 4.1 million kilograms (the equivalent of approximately 1,039 million pieces of flexible plastic) from landfill across Australia.

We are implementing the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL), launched by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, PlanetArk and PREP Design, on Coles Own Brand products. The ARL uses a nationally consistent packaging assessment tool to determine the appropriate recycling label for different packaging components.

We are also working to reduce and optimise fresh produce packaging. While some packaging is required for transport, to support product longevity, maintain food safety and reduce food waste, Coles acknowledges there are areas where packaging can be reduced. We are actively working with our fresh produce suppliers to reduce the number of packaging layers, light-weight packaging materials, ensure all packaging is recyclable either at home or through REDcycle bins in store, and in some cases remove packaging.

During FY18, we announced we would transition to Plantic™ packaging for a wide range of Coles Own Brand fresh meat products. The packaging is both recyclable and made entirely from a combination of recycled and renewable materials. Plantic’s™ trays are made from recycled PET (rPET) with a thin layer of Plantic’s™ renewable barrier material, made from corn starch, which helps keeps the meat fresh. During the recycling process, the thin starch layer washes away, allowing the rPET tray to be recycled again. Coles Own Brand fresh beef mince, pork mince and lamb mince has used recyclable packaging since 2014.

We will continue to look for other opportunities to include recycled content in Coles Own Brand product packaging. Since 2014, Coles Own Brand still water has been packaged in bottles made of 100 per cent rPET and in FY18 we introduced new heavy-duty reusable carry bags made from 80 per cent recycled content and which are also recyclable in store through REDcycle bins. Coles is also introducing fresh produce bags made from 30 per cent recycled content that can also be recycled in-store though REDcycle.

On 1 July 2018, Coles removed single-use plastic shopping bags across all our businesses. The move brought Coles supermarkets, Coles Express outlets and Liquor stores in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia in line with Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, where we already complied with legislated bans on single-use bags. Coles introduced a range of reusable bags including an entry level bag made from 80 per cent recycled content, and a range of reusable community bags, designed by Australian school children, that support community organisations.

We have also introduced new fixtures for the ends of some aisles in over 600 stores. The metal ends replace cardboard ends currently supplied by branded product suppliers and are expected to result in a reduction of 3,500 tonnes of cardboard per year.

Coles supermarkets have replaced some corrugated cardboard, waxed cardboard and expanded polystyrene boxes with reusable plastic crates across our supply chain. Working with over 400 suppliers, we have millions of reusable plastic crates in circulation being used for fruit, vegetables, poultry, red meat and pre-packaged salads.

In addition to removing cardboard, waxed cardboard and expanded polystyrene from the supply chain, these crates help to reduce product damage which cuts down on food waste.

While growing our network, Coles Group’s carbon emissions have continued to decline over the past ten years.

Since 2009, our greenhouse emissions have reduced by more than 36 per cent, and we met our 2020 target for emissions reduction four years early in 2016. In FY19, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by six per cent compared with the previous year.

The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in supermarkets has been driven by energy-efficiency initiatives and a focus on refrigerant gases involving replacing refrigeration pipes, transitioning to lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, piloting zero GWP refrigeration plants and investing in leak-detection technology and a leak-detection team.