Woolworths expands paper shopping bags trial to KZN

Woolworths has rolled out the second phase of its trial of specially-designed recycled paper bags for fashion, beauty and homeware purchases, in line with its vision to phase out single-use plastic shopping bags by 2020.
Woolworths expands paper shopping bags trial to KZN

Originally launched at the Woolworths store at Blue Route Mall in Cape Town, the trial is expanding to Midlands Mall in KwaZulu-Natal.

“We have had some excellent learnings from the Cape Town trial which has resulted in a couple of changes including slight changes to the size of the bags. We are looking forward to extending the trial to Midlands Mall as it offers us the opportunity to test our logistics for an outlying area as well as align our sustainability efforts with the recent opening of the Woolies sponsored Wildlands Recycling Village at Midlands Mall,” says Feroz Koor: Woolworths Holdings group head of sustainability.

Woolworths has partnered with Wildlands to establish a recycling village at Midlands Mall to encourage citizen-action to improve our environment. The Midlands Mall recycling village is the fourth recycling village in this partnership with one more to follow, all in the KZN area, with the aim to increase recycling rates in South Africa.

100% recycled paper

According to Woolworths, every aspect of the impact of the new paper bags has been considered, from improved care for the environment, utilising recycled content, to sourcing the bag from a local medium-sized black-owned enterprise.

The stand-out feature of the new paper bags is that it is made out of 100% recycled paper. The paper used in their production is recovered from used cardboard and boxes from the same mill where Woolworths itself sends its cardboard waste, resulting in a ‘closed-loop recycling’ paper shopping bag in line with circular economy principles.

The design process has included durability to ensure the bags can handle the weights and sizes of different fashion, beauty and homeware items. From the consumer perspective, the bags may be re-used for ongoing fashion, beauty and homeware purchases, but will be unsuitable for food purchases as paper bags simply can’t stand up to the inevitable moisture of cold chains items.

The new paper bags will also be fully recyclable, making it easy for Woolies’ customers to dispose of the bags responsibly and ensure they don’t go ultimately to landfill.

Let's do Biz