A Bellshill recycling plant is to reprocess soft plastic recycled by Waitrose customers at the supermarket’s 295 stores across the UK.
It comes after Newcastle-headquartered Impact Recycling secured the contract for the work at its Bellshill facility after ‘considerable’ due diligence from the retailer to find a UK-based waste management solution.
Customers will be able to recycle carrier bags; bread bags; frozen food bags; delivery bags; cereal liners; toilet roll wrapping; salad, pasta, and rice bags; cheese, fish, and meat wrapping; crisps, biscuit, and chocolate wrapping; baby and pet food pouches; and bubble wrap and cling film.
The plastic will be sent to Bellshill where it will be washed, separated, and then flaked or pelletised so it can be made into new products or materials in their next life – such as:
- Secondary packaging (e.g. toilet paper packaging)
- Shrink wrap for transportation of goods
- Delivery/carrier Bags
- Refuse sacks
- Bags for DIY, industrial and horticultural products
- Guttering, buckets or plastic furniture
Caroline Pinnell, sustainability & ethics specialist at Waitrose, said, “We know that recycling is a key priority for many of our customers so we’re delighted to be able to offer flexible plastic recycling across a number of our shops. Across both Waitrose and John Lewis, we are continuing to strip away single-use packaging and provide our customers with convenient reuse, refill and recycling solutions.
“We are on track to meet our 2023 Waitrose packaging target, that all of our own-brand packaging will be reusable or made from widely recyclable or home-compostable material by the end of 2023, two years ahead of the industry-wide WRAP UK Plastic Pact.”
