SOUTH African retailer Checkers, a division of JSE-listed Shoprite, will divert 68 tons of non-recyclable material from landfill with the new rotisserie chicken boxes as part of its environmental sustainability commitment in response to climate change
The retailer said it was the first to replace its rotisserie chicken packaging with fully recyclable, responsibly sourced cardboard boxes. This would then prevent 68 tons of non-recycled multi-layer laminated material from being landfilled every year.
This was part of Checkers’ ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability as the retailer continued to make changes that it said were better for the planet.
Sanjeev Raghubir, the group’s sustainability manager, said this was also in line with the Shoprite Group’s commitment to designing its packaging with sustainability in mind.
“To promote the circular economy, the Group has committed to ensuring that 100 percent of its own-brand packaging is reusable, recyclable and compostable, and that it contains on average 30 percent recycled material content by 2025,” Raghubir said.
It said good progress had already been made, transitioning key packaging categories, which included all paper and carton board packaging used at in-store delis, bakeries and fresh fish sections now being 100 percent responsibly sourced.
Private label Crystal Valley Fresh Milk’s bottle cap colour has been changed from blue and red to white, which enabled recyclers to eliminate downcycling into darker cap colours like black. In the next two months, PET Thermoform plastic sandwich punnets would be replaced with a Kraft carton sandwich wedge, which has a small window, for easy removal before recycling.
In addition, the group said it currently recycled volumes of material per hour through its reverse logistics operations. For plastic it recycled 4 653 tons per year, which equals 531kg per hour, or 0.5 tons per hour. For cardboard, 40 327 tons were recycled annually, equalling 4 604kg per hour, or 5.07 tons per hour.
Shoprite chief executive Pieter Engelbrecht said in the retailer’s Sustainability Report 2021 that many of the challenges that communities faced were linked to climate change.
The group had realised how sudden and intense the impact of a global crisis can be, as experienced through the Covid-19 pandemic, hence they remained resolute in playing their role to address climate change, he said.
Last year, the group said it advanced its sustainability-related commitments by setting science-based targets in response to climate change and by articulating a position on biodiversity. The Sustainability team also improved its disclosure of sustainability-related information through better Global Reporting Initiative alignment and reporting disclosures.
According to the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries’ National Waste Management Strategy 2020 (NWMS), referring to the 2018 State of Waste Report, in 2017 South Africa generated 55 million tonnes of general waste, with only 11 percent being diverted from landfill.
These trends, coupled with limited growth in the gross domestic product, were associated with increases in waste generation. The department said in the absence of aggressive strategies to avoid generating waste, the total volumes of waste generated would increase in future, which would in turn require greater effort in waste diversion simply to maintain the current rate at which landfill airspace was depleted which was already recognised as being unsustainable.
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