Woolworths honored with PETCO Best Design for Circularity Award for innovative iced tea packaging

SOUTH AFRICA — Woolworths has been awarded the prestigious 2024 PETCO Best Design for Circularity Award for its innovative iced tea packaging.

This recognition highlights the retailer’s commitment to sustainable packaging solutions, particularly through the introduction of South Africa’s first recyclable polyolefin shrink sleeve.

By ensuring that both the bottle and sleeve can be recycled together, Woolworths is taking a significant step toward enhancing the circular economy in the packaging industry.

Traditionally, shrink sleeves on PET bottles have posed a challenge to recyclability due to material incompatibility, often contaminating recycling streams.

Woolworths’ adoption of polyolefin-based shrink sleeves addresses this issue, making it easier to recover and reuse the PET from discarded bottles.

This development improves the efficiency of recycling processes and sets a new industry standard for sustainable packaging.

The Best Design for Circularity Award is presented annually by PETCO, South Africa’s leading producer responsibility organization, to recognize designs that actively promote recycling and contribute to a sustainable waste management system.

Woolworths’ achievement underscores its leadership in environmental stewardship and innovation within the retail sector.

Beyond its iced tea range, Woolworths has expanded the use of recyclable polyolefin shrink sleeves to other product categories, including mayonnaises and milkshakes.

This broader application demonstrates the company’s dedication to reducing environmental impact across its entire product line and reinforces its long-term commitment to sustainability.

This milestone aligns with Woolworths’ broader Good Business Journey, a corporate initiative focused on embedding sustainability across various aspects of its operations.

By continuously refining its packaging solutions and prioritizing materials that support a circular economy, Woolworths is positioning itself as a pioneer in responsible retail practices.

The PETCO award serves as both recognition and encouragement for Woolworths and the industry at large, signalling the importance of designing products with end-of-life recyclability in mind.

As consumer awareness of environmental impact grows, Woolworths’ commitment to sustainable packaging solutions sets a benchmark for other retailers to follow, reinforcing the role of businesses in driving meaningful change toward a greener future.

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