Co-op News September 2021
The September edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at Principle 6 - co-operation among co-ops: including a look at how co-ops are coming together to find solutions to the environmental challenges facing the world - whether that means stepping up the war on plastic waste in the UK or helping the clean energy transition in Croatia. We look at efforts to provide co-op housing and community pubs, and speak to Lord Victor Adebowale – Co-op Group director and chair of Social Enterprise UK - about co-operation with other socially led sectors. And there's a look at the co-op environment that helped nurture US Olympian Dalilah Muhammad.
The September edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at Principle 6 - co-operation among co-ops: including a look at how co-ops are coming together to find solutions to the environmental challenges facing the world - whether that means stepping up the war on plastic waste in the UK or helping the clean energy transition in Croatia. We look at efforts to provide co-op housing and community pubs, and speak to Lord Victor Adebowale – Co-op Group director and chair of Social Enterprise UK - about co-operation with other socially led sectors. And there's a look at the co-op environment that helped nurture US Olympian Dalilah Muhammad.
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SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 7<br />
ENVIRONMENT<br />
Retail co-<strong>op</strong>s sign up to soft plastic collection scheme<br />
p The recycling scheme offers a way forward for the crisis of plastic pollution<br />
Independent retail co-<strong>op</strong>s in the UK have<br />
signed up to the plastic collection scheme,<br />
launched by the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group at the start<br />
of last month.<br />
The scheme sees the co-<strong>op</strong>s install<br />
collection points at selected stores, where<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le can recycle film and soft plastics,<br />
items that are currently not collected by<br />
all council services.<br />
The collection points will allow pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
to deposit items such as crisp packets,<br />
sweet wrappers, plastic film, pet food<br />
pouches, bread bags and other plastic<br />
bags, which will then be backhauled via<br />
the retailers’ distribution networks and<br />
responsibly recycled.<br />
Estimates from WRAP suggest that just<br />
6% of plastic bags and wrapping from UK<br />
households is recycled each year, while<br />
(by weight) it makes up around a fifth of<br />
all plastic packaging.<br />
Items that cannot be recycled include<br />
hard plastics, plastic bottles, plastic trays<br />
and no compostable elements, however<br />
recycling services for these items are<br />
widely available.<br />
Luke Olly, energy and environment<br />
lead, at Central England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> said: “As<br />
a co-<strong>op</strong>erative, we have a responsibility<br />
to champion sustainability for the good<br />
of our members, consumers and local<br />
communities and plastics is at the<br />
forefront of these efforts.<br />
“We have worked with other retail<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s to provide a network of instore<br />
collection points for film and soft<br />
plastics. Providing collection points<br />
specifically for these types of plastics will<br />
enable customers to easily recycle items<br />
that are currently not collected through<br />
council services, while doing this in<br />
a co-<strong>op</strong>erative manner means all the<br />
communities the co-<strong>op</strong> serves can benefit<br />
from this process, helping to provide a<br />
nationwide solution.<br />
“We h<strong>op</strong>e our customers and members<br />
will make use of the new collection<br />
points and join us in our push to recycle<br />
together.”<br />
Mike Pickering, co-<strong>op</strong>erative social<br />
responsibility manager at Midcounties,<br />
said: “As a society, we’re committed to<br />
making change and encouraging our<br />
members and customers to work with<br />
us to build a better environment for our<br />
future, and recycling is a big part of that.<br />
“We know that many of our customers<br />
and members want to do even more than<br />
they already are to help the planet, and<br />
the new recycling collection points are a<br />
great, convenient solution to help them.”<br />
Other co-<strong>op</strong>s introducing the scheme<br />
include Chelmsford Star, East of England,<br />
Lincolnshire and Heart of England.<br />
Heart of England says plastic can be<br />
taken to its stores in Hinckley, Long<br />
Lawford, Wellesbourne, Balsall <strong>Co</strong>mmon,<br />
and Galley <strong>Co</strong>mmon, Cedar Road and<br />
Attleborough in Nuneaton, and Allesley<br />
Old Road and Earlsdon in <strong>Co</strong>ventry.<br />
Steve Browne, general manager of<br />
the society’s food division, said: “The<br />
environment is an increasingly common<br />
area of concern among our members<br />
and customers. This new scheme will<br />
help make a significant impact. Already<br />
a great many of our stores offer packagefree<br />
zones where customers use their<br />
own refillable containers to buy certain<br />
products, and our water stations too –<br />
allowing customers to refill their own<br />
water bottles – are also a huge hit.”<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has also told the <strong>News</strong><br />
it is planning to trial it.
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