Reusable bag puts the green back into greengrocers

A reusable bag made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles will soon be available at Pick n Pay stores countrywide.

The bag is aimed at promoting the circular economy by turning post-consumer primary packaging, in the form of plastic bottles, into secondary reusable packaging.

About 43.2 t of green recycled PET will be repurposed to make one-million bags, which equates to the weight of approximately two-million 500 ml plastic bottles.

Each reusable bag is manufactured from approximately two green PET bottles, in a South Africa-based process using local post-consumer PET bottles combined with local collection and recycling.

The company has partnered with The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever to sell the first one-million green People n Planet reusable bags for R4 per bag. The bag is said to be one of the lowest priced reusable bags made from recycled plastic in South Africa. In addition, if the bag breaks the company will replace it free of charge.

The bag was initially sold for R5 per bag and was trialled in 22 stores to gauge customers’ willingness to purchase an affordable reusable bag as an alternative to the current plastic carrier bag. 11 500 bags were sold during the one-month trial, which resulted in a reduction in plastic bag sales across the pilot stores when compared to the same period last year.

The company states that the reusable bags are part of its World Without Waste strategy, through which it aims to promote a circular economy by collecting and recycling a bottle for every one sold by 2030.

It also aims to  create more awareness about repurposed and recycled plastic and has included a QR code on the bag that can be scanned to show the lifecycle of the plastic bottle and the processes used to make the green bag.

In addition, Unilever South Africa has committed to ensuring that by 2025 100% of its packaging will be 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable and will include a minimum of 25% recycled material. An example of this is its dishwashing liquid bottle, which is made from 100% recycled PET and is fully recyclable.