New flexible plastic packaging recycling scheme at Sainsbury's

[kgenn]

Hi,

Just noticed this - Sainsbury's have annouced rollout of a new 'flexible plastic'(polypropylene) recycling scheme - Not just carrier bags, it includes the annoying stuff like salad bags, crisp packets, bread bags , peelable film lids, frozen food bags, cereal/biscuit/cake wrappings, clingfilm etc etc

It's happening in over 500 stores including Dulwich (i'm assuming Dog Kennel Hill...)

Details of the scheme and the plastics you can now recycle are here: https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/plan-for-better/our-stories/2021/flexible-plastics

G

[Adidas_guy]

Great news but Co op have been doing this for a while already!

[Nigello]

It is a great idea and very welcome. Best to avoid buying it in the first place, which is much easier said than done, I know. (Not all plastic is to be demonised though - without it there would be much more food wastage, which contributes to global heating.)

[precious star]

About time !... dont know why its taken these supermarkets so long ?

[Friernlocal]

Has anyone seen how this works in a store? Is there a separate bin for this plastic or does it go in the existing plastic carrier recycling bins?

[tomskip]

I took my large collection of filmy plastic to Sainsburys DKH this morning. No sign of a recycling bin for this plastic yet.

[MaryT]

TBH, I think this is a bit of nonsense by the supermarket chains. Looks environmentally friendly on the surface, but just allows them to get out of taking the urgent steps needed to eliminate unnecessary soft plastics. Have you seen the amount of soft plastic around your loo rolls, for example? In reality, most people won't remember to wash, sort and return their soft plastics. As Tomskip points out, Sainsbury DKH hasn't even bothered to put its bin in place yet!

If its wrapped in plastic, I'm just gonna stop buying it!

[Nigello]

It is better than nothing, surely? If it acts as an incentive for someone to totally avoid such plastics, then that is good result, even if it is not the main objective. Plastic can be used for good - think of the spoilage on some goods. It is also light, which cuts down on transport costs.

[Jenny I]

I've been using the one in the Co-op but the problem is the bin is tiny and doesn't get emptied often enough. On the TV advert you see someone turning up to put one bread wrapper in it, but there is so much of this stuff, even if you try to avoid it, you can collect loads. I slightly have the fear about whether they really do recycle it, but that's another story. So these initiatives are good but they need much bigger/better facilities.

[Nigello]

Best to tell the staff at the branch in question; they may well install another bin if they know about customers' feedback.

[Adidas_guy]

Just wondering whether anyone can confirm that there is this facility at Sainsburys on Dog Kennel Hill and how big the recycling bin (for soft-plastics) actually is?

[Jules-and-Boo]

Don?t be fooled. The % actually recycled and reused is not that height.

It?s better if you don?t buy the products with plastic and then the supermarkets might be encouraged to stop using it in the first place

[Adidas_guy]

Thank you for telling me what I should be doing. It?s always good to be told what to do by others.

Actually, I have no choice but to buy food products with plastic films etc, and I am trying my very best do the right thing for the environment.

From what you say, as so little is recycled there is no point in me making any effort and I am therefore tempted just to throw the whole lot away along with general refuse. Fortunately, I am a conscientious person and would not do that when I know facilities exist.

If anyone can tell me whether Sainsburys have a soft-plastics recycling bin, I would greatly appreciate it.

The reason for asking is because the recycling bin in the coop is quite small and I now have quite a large amount to recycle.

[tomszekeres]

Hey everyone, keep it kind :)

There's a PDF on Sainsbury's website that details all of the participating stores (including Dulwich), but it's pretty hard to read, so I've added all of the local stores that offer flexible plastic recycling to a Google Map (that also contains the Co-op stores):

→ Where can you recycle soft plastic in South-East London?

The long and the short of it is that Sainsbury's Dog Kennel Hill *do* have a soft plastics recycling bin.

[Adidas_guy]

Thanks for confirming this and for the very useful map.

It?s very much appreciated.

[kiera]

Friernlocal Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Has anyone seen how this works in a store? Is

> there a separate bin for this plastic or does it

> go in the existing plastic carrier recycling bins?

For clarification, I enquired of the "Flexible Plastics Initiative" (referenced from the link in the initial post on this thread)

My enquiry:

Do supermarket customers need to collect their flexible plastics separately or can it all go together into the one container - i.e. do crisp packets, biscuit wrappers and cat food pouches all go together into the supermarket carrier bag bin?

Their reply

"All of the flexible plastics can be collected together, as they all go in the one bin at the supermarket.

We do ask that they are cleaned to avoid contamination."

There are (& have been for some years) three bins for bags at Sainsbury's DKH, although they are all usually full to the brim.

[JDolman]

Thanks for sharing G, we've had trouble spotting this new facility, seems to be lumped in generally with the plastic bags bit at the exit/entrance?

On a similar note, I hope you don't mind me hi-jacking this thread to draw people's attention to a petition I have started to get the Superdrug on Lordship Lane to accept empty medicine packets for recycling:

You can drop off empty medicine blister packets for recycling at participating Superdrug pharmacies through the TerraCycle Programme. Please sign my petition to ask the Superdrug store on Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, to sign up to this scheme so we can all recycle more!

TerraCycle partners with businesses to create drop off points for waste that cannot be recycled by local councils and one of these partnerships is with Superdrug, where you can drop off your empty medicine blister packets in one of their participating store. Unfortunately, the Superdrug on Lordship Lane is not a store that?s registered (in fact, there are almost none in the whole of Southwark) so I have decide to lobby them to sign up to the scheme and a petition is a persuasive way of showing there is local demand for the service.

For anybody that?s interested please sign the petition to get this neat initiative brought to ED - [chng.it]

Happy recycling!

[JDolman]

All, a quick update from us - we have tried to recycle our packaging through this new scheme on more than one occasion and despite it being listed as a service as G rightly notes, Sainsbury's have told us it is not something they can/will accept. I shall drop them an email but we may have greater luck through some good old fashioned people power, if anybody else feels emboldened to pester them! :)

[Nigello]

JD - putting this on Twitter as a mild-mannered query may get more attention, more quickly than dealing with a branch manager.

[Adidas_guy]

Sainsburys in Forest Hill has a large bin for recycling soft plastics.

I have used it several times.

[Annie5]

But are these items actually recycled? Surely better to avoid buying things in plastic in the first place - buy vegetables and fruit loose for example

[malumbu]

Moving into Lounge territory. Firstly is there a market for products not wrapped in flexible plastic. Hmm, not sure, if really pees me off when you buy cakes, biscuits and the like that are then subdivided into lunch box sized amounts wrapped in plastic. Would Mr Kippling for example sell cakes that are not wrapped like this, should we pay more for excess packaging? Should government intervene.

Being fortunate enough to get to France in the summer many of their fruit and veg in the supermarkets are sold loose, and/or in none-plastic packaging. I doubt if they consulted about this. In the same way that they banned plastic bags years ago. More please (not sure if this is all parts of France)

[Sue]

tomszekeres Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hey everyone, keep it kind :)

>

> There's a PDF on Sainsbury's website that details

> all of the participating stores (including

> Dulwich), but it's pretty hard to read, so I've

> added all of the local stores that offer flexible

> plastic recycling to a Google Map (that also

> contains the Co-op stores):

>

> → Where can you recycle soft plastic in

> South-East London?

>

> The long and the short of it is that Sainsbury's

> Dog Kennel Hill *do* have a soft plastics

> recycling bin.

I can't see the DKH Sainsbury's on that map, only the Forest Hill one??