Lavington Coles named worst in state for soft plastic recycling

Coles has revealed in its newest sustainability report the store only recycled 136 kilograms of soft plastics through its REDcycle bins last financial year - ranking the store the worst in NSW.

The St Agnes supermarket in South Australia topped the list recycling 6732 kilograms of plastics such as biscuit packets, lolly bags, frozen food bags, pasta bags and single-use plastic bags.

Coles became the first major Australian supermarket to roll out REDcycle bins in all supermarkets last year.

Customers can place plastic bags and soft plastic packaging in REDcycle bins at the front of stores to be recycled for uses such as furniture, playground equipment and materials for walkways in parks, roads and bollards.

Shoppers across the country recycled 905 tonnes or 226 million pieces of soft plastic - an increase of 32 per cent from the previous year.

Despite Lavington being ranked one of the worst, the three Wodonga stores are ranked in the top third in Victoria.

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And the Albury store recycled more than five times the amount of Lavington with 693 kilograms collected.

Wodonga Plaza came in at number 44 out of 181 stores in Victoria with 636 kilograms, Wodonga Birallee Plaza recycled 658 kilograms and ranked 53, Wodonga Mann Central was the best across the Border recycling 769 kilograms and ranking 63 in Victoria.

Coles chief property and export officer Thinus Keeve said customers should be commended for remembering to bring their soft plastics back to store.

"The increase in use of REDcycle bins shows just how significant the issue of reducing waste has become for customers," he said.

"We know that recycling is important to our customers and we are seeing many people changing their habits to reduce waste that ends up in landfill.

"Since we partnered with REDcycle in 2011, our customers have recycled enough pieces of plastic to go around the world five times which is just fantastic."

Victorian stores led the country in the 2018-19 financial year with 266,690 kilograms recycled.

RED group director of development Elizabeth Kasell said she is proud consumers have jumped on board to support soft plastic recycling.

"We're not asking people to change their routines," she said.

"It's just a matter of remembering to take their plastic packaging with them next time they visit their local Coles supermarket and drop it off in the REDcycle bins.

"This is helping retailers, distributors and manufacturers work together for a better outcome for materials that were previously going to landfill."