Coles trials ‘bring your own container’ scheme to slash plastic waste

The supermarket giant is trialling an ambitious new way of packaging products that requires customers to bring their own containers.

Coles is trialling a ‘bring your own container’ system at an inner-city Melbourne store in a bid to reduce plastic use.

The test at the Coles Local store in Fitzroy will apply to certain dry products.

“To help reduce plastic packaging, Coles Local is trialling a new ‘bring your own’ container system at our Fitzroy store in Melbourne for select dry scoop and weigh products,” a Coles spokesman said.

That product line includes items like seeds, nuts and other snacks.

A coles store in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy is trying a new system where customers bring their own containers for certain items. Picture by Google via NCA NewsWire.

Buying food in bulk to avoid wasting plastic has become somewhat of a trend in Australia, with specialist stores popping up around the country.

The Source Bulk Foods is one such chain, with stores in several Australian cities as well as in New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and Singapore.

The Aussie company last week expanded into North America with its first store in Toronto, Canada.

Coles will try to get customers to put other products in their containers brought from home as well.

The supermarket giant has begun offering refill laundry soaps at a store in the Melbourne neighbourhood of Moonee Ponds and hygiene products at a store in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood.

“We have partnered with Unilever on a refill station for laundry soaps at our Melbourne Moonee Ponds store, and with ‘ecostore’ at Chatswood in Sydney, to offer a range of refillable conditioners, body washes, and laundry liquids,” the Coles spokesman said.