Woolworths Group is working towards transitioning our own brand ranges to recyclable, compostable or reusable packaging. As of July 2024, we have removed 16,000 tonnes of virgin plastic packaging from circulation since 2018.

We continue to be committed to working towards to the following priorities for our own brand packaging:

• Halving the use of virgin plastic packaging by weight in our own brand products against our 2018 baseline for our supermarkets by 2025
  
• Achieving an average of 60% recycled content in our own brand packaging by the end of 2025
• Trialling more refillable and reusable packaging options for products in our operations
• Phasing out problematic and unnecessary materials, as identified by Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), starting with our own brands in our supermarkets and BIG W. We have worked to remove more than 1,000 tonnes of problematic plastic in different packaging projects, in addition to nearly 17,000 tonnes when we phased out lightweight plastic shopping bags in 2018.
• Promoting recycling, including displaying the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL)* on 100% of own brand product packaging in our supermarkets and BIG W. This year, we achieved our target to display the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) on 100% of our supermarket own brand product packaging. In addition, by the end of F24 we had added the ARL to 91% of BIG W own brand packaging, up from 55% in F23.The updated packaging will continue to flow onto our shelves and to avoid waste, some items without the ARL may still appear in stores until sold through. In addition, to support customers’ soft plastic recycling efforts, we are working to replace the ARL ‘return to store’ logo on our own brand products with the new soft plastics recycling ARL ‘check locally’ by 1 July 2025. 

*To support customers’ soft plastic recycling efforts, we are replacing the current ARL ‘return to store’ logo on our own brand products with the new soft plastics recycling ARL ‘check locally’ by 1st July 2025. We are also working as part of the Soft Plastics Taskforce to enable a staged restart of access to in-store soft plastics collections, and working closely with processors domestically to build soft plastic processing capacity and capability to maximise soft plastics recovery.

To achieve our goal of making packaging more sustainable, we’re committed to collaborating with our trading partners, government and industry to reduce waste and transition our business to a circular economy.

Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Plastics Pact (ANZPAC)

In May 2021, we became a founding member of the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Plastics Pact (ANZPAC), which brings the industry, at every level of the supply chain, together in the pursuit of a shared set of plastic reduction targets and whose mission is “Together, through shared knowledge, investment and industry-led innovation, we will implement solutions tailored to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands region.” Woolworths Group’s commitments, as outlined in our Sustainability Plan 2025, align with the targets set by ANZPAC. We see working together as an entire industry, and region, as critical to identifying and implementing solutions to reduce plastic waste. 

Collaborating to reduce hard to recycle materials

We not only want to improve our own brand packaging but influence our whole value chain to explore more sustainable solutions. To this end, in 2021, we launched the ‘Woolworths Group – Packaging Preferred Materials List and Format Guidelines’. This guidance was updated in June 2024 to reflect the state-based legislation on single use plastic.

Developed in consultation with the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, we have shared it with our own brand and vendor branded suppliers to support their packaging plans by considering problematic and preferred packaging materials. 

The Guidelines provide a helpful tool as we work towards phasing out the hardest to recycle materials from all packaging by 2025 in line with the Australian Government’s 2025 National Packaging Targets. 

The Guidelines categorises packaging materials based on how easily recyclable they are:

• ‘Red’ = avoid using since customers cannot easily recycle. Phase out by 2025. For example, carbon black plastic, cardboard coated with wax. 
• ‘Amber’ = when functional requirements mean ‘Green’ materials are not an option. For example, coloured rigid plastics, liquid paper board. 
• ‘Green’ = packaging materials and characteristics which are widely recyclable in Australia and New Zealand. For example, PET, clear glass, corrugated cardboard.

Samsara and Woolworths

One of Woolworths most exciting partnerships is with enviro-tech company Samsara, of which it is a co-founder. Samsara uses technology, discovered by researchers from Australian National University, in which an enzyme is used to break down existing plastics (e.g. bottles) into their basic building blocks so that they can be reused in the plastics production process as if they were virgin plastic. 

Woolworth’s circular economy and innovation team, W360, is working closely with Samsara to take its technology from the lab to Woolworths supermarkets, with Samsara packaging expected to hit shelves in the next two years. The medium-term goal is for Woolworths to help scale Samsara’s capabilities to a point where it becomes a supplier of this technology to other retailers and suppliers.