![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/012B69B0-7E02-4DB1-A421-CBB3C248FA03.jpeg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Having test-run two first automated recycling machines in its Waterfront store, Pick n Pay has expanded the number of stores in which it has placed its machines to three, being Camps Bay, Constantia, and its On Nicol store in Johannesburg. This is not a minute too soon, given how much litter is generated from Pick n Pay store purchases, if Camps Bay is a sample of one.<\/p>\nAt the time that the retailer test-run the two recycling machines in its Waterfront store, it issued a media statement about its waste policy, which included the following description of the recycling machine: <\/p>\n
\u2018Pick n Pay, <\/i><\/span>in partnership with the V&A Waterfront, has <\/span>also <\/span>launched two Reverse Vending Machines whereby customers will be rewarded for recycling any <\/span>recyclable waste product<\/span> with a <\/span>relevant <\/span>barcode. <\/span>Customers who recycle more than three times in a month will be entered into a monthly draw and 50 customers will receive a free reusable <\/span>RPET <\/span>Pick n Pay bag. Each week one customer will also win a R200 Pick n Pay Waterfront gift card for using the machine. At the end of the campaign, the customer who recycled the most will win a R5,000 gift card\u2019. <\/i>I was unable to receive an updated media statement from Pick n Pay, and was sent an older one just focusing on the roll-out of the two Waterfront machines. <\/span><\/p>\n Being located in the Waterfront, the V & A Waterfront added its support for the retailer tenant in creating awareness of the need for recycling: \u2019At the end of 2017 we made a commitment to eliminate single-use plastic bags and bottles from across our property and we are actively working to make this a reality working alongside our tenant partners. <\/span>As the country\u2019s oldest working harbour and one of the most recognised waterfronts in the world, we are especially aware of our responsibility to protect the ocean as a natural resource and the need to act urgently\u2019. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n I tested the machine at the Camps Bay store, and would have walked right past it had the store manager not told me about it. I received an sms after depositing a plastic bottle, and found it to not be understandable, and therefore not motivating to add more plastic bottles to the machine, especially after a second bottle I tried to enter into the machine was rejected. This is the sms I received: \u2018Hello Eco Warrior, thanks for recycling with Imagined Earth! You have been entered into the Imagined Earth 5 for 5 Airtime Giveaway\u2019<\/i>. Bizarrely there is no Pick n Pay branding in the message! <\/p>\n Pick n Pay Director of Transformation Suzanne Ackerman-Berman expanded at the time (November 2018) on her company\u2019s plastic waste awareness campaign combined with waste reduction measures, which focuses on \u2018Reduce, Reuse and Recycle\u2019<\/i><\/span>. One initiative was a life-size rhino which was decorated with plastic waste, created by artist Heath Nash, and was displayed in the Waterfront. \u2018<\/span>M<\/span>any consumers <\/span>remain <\/span>unaware<\/span> about the unintentional harm they may be causing to the environment by not recycling, re-using<\/span>,<\/span> or repurposing plastic<\/span>. We wanted to visually show consumers the type of plastic that feeds in<\/span>to<\/span> our oceans and <\/span>environment<\/span> every day and that<\/span> these items can<\/span> be<\/span> repurposed<\/span> if recycle<\/span><\/i>d<\/i>\u2019, the store explained. <\/span><\/p>\n Other waste-reducing measures include a start in phasing out plastic straws, sadly no evidence of this being seen in the Camps Bay store, where more than a year after this promise children are seen to walk out of the store with handfuls of straws, and leave them and the paper-wrapping on the beach and picnic lawns. Corporate branded ear buds with paper inners have been introduced. Bags made from recycled plastic are sold in the stores nationally. \u2018The company also undertook a <\/i><\/span>unique one-day, one-store pilot project to raise awareness and see how customers responded to compostable bags and cardboard boxes as an alternative to plastic bags<\/i>.<\/span>\u2019, it added. The compostable bags were found to not yet be feasible, while cardboard boxes were tested in six stores. Paper bags are also being tested for non-packaged fruit and vegetables. It also supports the Ecobrick project, in which 2 litre plastic bottles filled with plastic waste can be used in the building of houses.<\/span><\/p>\n In January 2020 Pick n Pay became one of the founding members of the SA Plastics Pact, about which I posted a story earlier this week: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n