Together to zero waste

We are working together with our supplier partners, government and industry to accelerate packaging sustainability and transition to a circular economy in Australia.

Coles is a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant and a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), tasked with facilitating the delivery of Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets (2025 Targets). We are also a founding member of the Australia New Zealand and Pacific Islands Plastics Pact (ANZPAC Plastics Pact) whose targets closely align with the 2025 Targets.

We understand our important role in driving change and will strive to take a leadership position working with industry and APCO to support the 2025 Targets’ delivery.

There are many external dependencies on achieving the 2025 Targets and the ANZPAC Targets. These include industry progress and developments in infrastructure (such as specialised recycling facilities), market innovation to support supply of quality recycled raw material (especially in relation to food-grade packaging), and industry awareness and understanding of packaging sustainability including traceability of material to verify recycled content.

While external dependencies will present challenges, Coles is committed to working with industry and government to play a leading role in delivering the ANZPAC Targets.

Since 2019, Coles has been rated as a ‘leading’ retailer by APCO in its annual performance assessment of its members. Our most recent APCO Annual Report and Action Plan can be found here.

The Coles Own Brand R³ Packaging Framework has been developed so we can support industry to achieve the 2025 Targets. The framework’s objective is to reduce excessive and unnecessary packaging whilst supporting greater recyclability and inclusion of recycled content.

Our R³ Packaging Framework is based on the three pillars of Redesign, Recycle and Reimagine.

1. Redesign: Reducing unnecessary packaging and removing all non-recyclable components;
2. Recycle: Helping ensure our packaging is recycled as much as possible. One of the ways we do this is through application of the ARL on our packaging; and
3. Reimagine: Finding new ways to reuse materials.

The framework helps ensure a systematic approach is used across our business to drive continuous progress. This includes a dedicated sustainable packaging team to provide expertise, drive sustainable packaging outcomes through the product development process, conduct packaging reviews and ongoing engagement with our suppliers and team members.

Here is a recent example of our R³ Packaging Framework in action.

More information on some of our key achievements to drive sustainable packaging can be found in the Coles Sustainability ReportSustainability Report, View PDF, file size 7.1MB.

Partnership with Planet Ark

Coles has partnered with leading environmental not-for-profit, Planet Ark, to help further our efforts to reduce food waste and packaging, and to tackle the challenge of plastic waste and recycling.

We are working with Planet Ark on a range of waste reduction and recycling initiatives, including during National Recycling Week and the School Recycle Right Challenge, of which Coles is the major sponsor .

Australasian Recycle Label (ARL)

Coles has added the Australasian Recycle Label (ARL) to the packaging artwork across all Own Brand products*. The ARL provides Australians with easy-to-understand recycling information that helps to remove confusion at the recycling bin, save time for users and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

* To avoid waste, some items without the ARL may still appear in stores until sold.

The Soft Plastics Taskforce was formed to allow Australia’s major supermarket retailers to work to restore public access to post-consumer soft plastics recycling. The Taskforce is made up of the three major supermarket chains, Coles, ALDI and Woolworths.

The Soft Plastics Taskforce has released a Roadmap to Restart, outlining the steps needed to launch a new supermarket soft plastic collection scheme, and the current state of play in the Australian recycling industry.

You can read all about it here View PDF, Soft Plastics Taskforce Roadmap, file size 203KB.

On 1 July 2018, Coles removed single-use plastic shopping bags across all our businesses.

In FY23 we announced the removal of soft-plastic shopping bags which is estimated to remove approximately 230 million plastic bags from circulation each year¹.

We continue to sell our Coles recycled paper bags, made from 100% recycled paper and are FSC^® Certified, for shopping in-store and online.

¹ Based on unit sales over 52-week period until 30 April 2023.

We are working with our suppliers to reduce waste in the supply chain. Plastic crates are used across our fresh produce and meat supply chains, replacing some corrugated cardboard, waxed cardboard and expanded polystyrene boxes. As well as reducing waste, these crates help reduce product damage, which also cuts down on food waste. In FY21, Coles entered a 10-year supply chain partnership with CHEP Australia, a division of Brambles. CHEP is providing many of Coles’ fresh produce and protein suppliers with a pool of reusable crates that are washed and rotated up to 80 million times per year.