A senior local authority recycling officer has welcomed the launch of the first retailer-led in-store Easter egg packaging recycling initiative, which was announced by supermarket chain Sainsburys last week (April 11).
Andrew Bird, chair of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) said that the scheme, which has been rolled out across 47 of the companys UK stores, was a good example of a retailer taking a circular economy approach.
The scheme is designed to allow customers to recycle their Easter egg packaging in-store, accepting plastics, film, card and foil. It also works to recycle elements of the packaging such as rigid plastics which many local authorities are not able to accept at the kerbside.
Commenting on the scheme, Mr Bird, who is the recycling strategy and commissioning manager for Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council said that rather than stepping on the toes of council recycling schemes, supermarkets were providing assistance with the influx of materials generated over the holiday period.
He told letsrecycle.com: The more retailers can do in helping to close the loop the better.
We tend to try and work very closely with retailers and at the end of the day it has been a shared partnership approach to it. Everyone has a stake in the circular economy we have to work with retailers and push waste prevention. Currently not every council is able to offer that service at the moment so it really does help.
Christmas
The Sainsburys scheme follows a similar premise by retailers to offer Christmas card recycling services in-store in December.
The initiative saw Sainsburys recycle 1.2 million cards last year, while elsewhere celebrities including Jo Brand and Jake Humphrey encouraged the public to recycle their cards in a similar scheme promoted by Marks & Spencer (see letsrecycle.com story).
As with the Christmas card scheme, Sainsburys has partnered with the Forestry Stewardship Council UK, with all proceeds from the recycled material to be donated to help maintain woodland areas.
Sainsburys head of sustainability, engineering, energy & environment Paul Crewe, said: Were proud to be the first to offer this cracking recycling facility to our customers and colleagues. Recycling is an important part of Sainsburys environmental commitment which were taking further than ever – sending zero operational waste to landfill and putting our minds to new and engaging schemes to help even more customers and colleagues recycle.
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Rachel Gray, behaviour change manager at WRAP, added: We are delighted that Sainsburys are working with their customers to help them find ways to recycle Easter egg packaging during the holidays. Such a wide range of Easter egg packaging can be recycled, from the foil that your chocolate egg comes in to your Easter egg box.
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