Co-op enabling Hucknall and Bulwell customers to keep going greener

The majority of all the retailer’s stores now have a special collection point that will allow people to recycle film and soft plastics, items that are currently not collected by all council services.

This will enable items such as crisp packets, sweet wrappers, plastic film, pet food pouches and plastic bags to be backhauled and responsibly recycled.

Items that cannot be recycled include hard plastics, plastic bottles, plastic trays and no compostable elements, however recycling services for these items are widely available.

Luke Olly, Central England Co-op’s energy and environment lead, said: “As a co-operative, we have a responsibility to champion sustainability for the good of our members, consumers and local communities and plastics is at the forefront of these efforts.

“We have worked with other retail co-ops to provide a network of in-store collection points for film and soft plastics.

"Providing collection points specifically for these types of plastics will enable customers to easily recycle items that are currently not collected through council services, while doing this in a co-operative manner means all the communities the co-op serves can benefit from this process, helping to provide a nationwide solution to this difficult problem.

“We hope our customers and members will make use of the new collection points and join us in our push to recycle together.”

The following items can now be recycled in Co-op stores:

Bread bags

Produce bags

Ordinary carrier bags

Wrappers around kitchen towel and toilet roll

Bags that nappies come in

Bags from cotton wool

Cereal box liners

Bags from frozen foods

Bags from ice cubes

Lids on yogurts, cream, desserts

Lids from packs of meat, ready meals

Lidding film from cheese packs

Wrapping around chicken

Fruit and veg flow wrap

Chocolate wrappers

Croissant, pancake, crumpet and similar wrappers

Biscuit wrappers

Wrappers from cakes and Yorkshire puddings

Flower wrappers

Bags from dried fruit, sugar, pulses, rice and pasta

Protective wrappers from gift wrap, bags from gift tags

Pastry packaging

Bags from household textiles and similar all-purpose cloths, dusters, dishcloths, rubber gloves and scourers

Wrappers from pet food

Wrappers from pies, pasties and sausage rolls

Bagged sweets

Pizza wrappers

Bags from porridge, muesli pouches

Packaging from baby wipes and similar.