British retailer Marks & Spencer has announced that it will turn plastic collected through its new plastic take-back scheme to playground equipment, store fittings, and furniture.
The retailer has installed recycling bins in selected stores, where customers can deposit non-recyclable plastic packaging like black ready meal trays, crisp packets, sauce sachets, and certain cosmetics containers.
'Circular Economy'
Senior packaging technologist at M&S, Laura Fernandez, said, “Customers often don’t know how best to recycle certain types of plastic or where it goes after being collected by local councils.
"We’re on a mission to provide a greater awareness of landfill avoidance and plastic recyclability, while ultimately helping our customers to give plastic a new purpose and support a truly circular economy.”
Bins have been installed in the Food and Beauty Halls in M&S Tolworth, Cribbs Causeway, Westfield Stratford, Waterside, Loughton, Bluewater, Fosse Park and Peterborough.
By the end of this year, the retailer aims to roll-out these bins in all M&S stores across the country.
Other Initiatives
The retailer has partnered with Dow, a leader in plastics technology, to recycle the plastic waste into useful objects.
It will also introduce recycling collection points in primary schools across the country in collaboration with waste education social enterprise Wastebuster.
Through this initiative, the retailer will educate students about the importance of recycling and reducing plastic waste.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
