New Sustainable Laundry Scoop

process increases as it requires no additional labour or equipment to create.

Tomane stated that sustainability was a movement, not a trend and that the brand was committed to creating an eco-friendly solution whilst there was consumer demand for a scoop.

“Small changes can still make a tangible benefit to the environment.”

Going on further, Tomane shared that sharing knowledge and collaboration could be incredibly powerful for the industry as a whole to come together to create potential solutions with a unified goal.

Earthwise’s practices differ from traditional scoops provided in laundry powder, which are fully formed as a separate product crafted from plastic or board. The Head of Marketing shared that these traditional scoops required extra packaging and processing steps and could create further waste.

Extra processing has the potential of requiring additional labour or equipment to physically add the scoop into laundry powder boxes, which is a design challenge that Earthwise wanted to address directly.

“The design challenge for us was to create a scoop that was an integral part of the existing unit carton, optimise the use of existing unit carton board sheet and avoid additional cost.”

Kerry Tomane, the Head of Marketing at Earthwise, shared that convenience was a key driver of laundry market purchasing as consumers see little difference between brands and products. If other brands present additional benefits or convenience, consumers will switch what brand they use products from.

Tomane shared that sustainability was at the heart of everything Earthwise does, and addressing consumer demand for a laundry scoop while being eco-friendly was imperative.

Earthwise’s eco-laundry scoop is a first of its kind, structured as a flat cardboard design. It is incorporated into the dieline of the existing laundry box, where consumers tear along the perforation and self-assemble the scoop in three easy steps printed on it. The scoop has a volume capacity of 30 grams, which measures a standard powder dosage and is 100 percent recyclable.

Tomane described Earthwise’s packaging philosophy as reflective of the Earthwise Group’s pledged support to the New Zealand Packaging Declaration, which has meant that the company has committed to having 100 percent of its recyclable, reusable packaging or compostable by 2025.

“Since October 2018, Earthwise has reused and diverted over 950 Tonnes of plastic from landfills since using at least 75 percent recycled plastic content in bottles.”

The brand’s carton packaging was already 100 percent recyclable, crafted from PEFC board, with the new laundry scoop fitting in perfectly with Earthwise's existing product and packaging ethos.

The new scoop further demonstrated Earthwise’s commitment to sustainability, national targets, and adherence to sustainable packaging guidelines through its reduction of unnecessary use of plastic. Its 100 percent recyclability has zero increase on the product's carbon footprint and does not

This required the team to innovate, and by working closely with its packaging supplier, Forbes Packaging, Earthwise was able to come up with its current solution.

Earthwise has committed itself to looking at new projects each year that reduce water, energy consumption, and waste production as an Environmental Choice Certified (ECNZ) company, which is New Zealand’s highest eco-friendly accreditation. Measuring its energy and water consumption is completed annually as part of this certification.

The Head of Marketing exclusively revealed that Earthwise would be removing the resealable bag in its Dish Tablets, a venture that has taken extensive product and packaging trials to achieve.

When discussing the global plastic pollution crisis, Tomane shared that the most significant challenges companies such as Earthwise face in addressing the problem are related to cost-effectively achieving scale. Tomane explained that investment is required from numerous companies to increase supply and drive down costs.

“Incorporating recycled content in packaging is a step towards this, but we only moved to this after rigorous testing to ensure the bottle still didn't do its job.”

Tomane emphasised that sustainability was a journey, not an end goal. With that central to Earthwise’s philosophy, the company is consistently and continually searching and implementing ways to improve its carbon footprint. Working with and supporting existing regional and national recycling schemes is essential when improving the recycling infrastructure. n

Reducing Unnecessary Plastics

Countdown has shared that an essential part of its sustainability work was reducing unnecessary plastic and packaging across the business. While a representative for Countdown has stated that the enterprise has made good progress, Countdown emphasised its knowledge of the need for much more to be done to meet both its customer's aspirations and its own.

As part of its Sustainability Plan, Countdown is working to transition its brand products to recyclable or reusable packaging and exit problematic packaging by 2025. Key highlights from the past 18 months include the rolling out of meat trays without soaker pads in the North Island, which has eliminated the use of 90 tonnes of plastic.

Secondly, the company has introduced 1.5-litre recyclable soft plastic drink bottles, removing 80 tonnes of virgin plastic. Thirdly, Countdown’s two-litre ice cream tubs have been repackaged in a light-coloured polypropylene diverting 121 tonnes of plastic from landfill and making them recyclable.

Finally, Countdown launched a first-tomarket recyclable ready-meal tray, equating to 7.5 tonnes of plastic that would otherwise have gone to the landfill, which now can be recycled.

Countdown does not use compostable or biodegradable plastic packaging in its own brand packaging, aligned with the Ministry for the Environment’s position and advice from the Food and Grocery Council Sustainability Committee.

A spokesperson for Coutndown reiterated that the company knows that the company must look past its own brand products. Therefore, Countdown has developed guidance for its vendor brands that utilises a traffic light system to grade packaging materials for recyclability in New Zealand.

The traffic light system would show which materials are preferred, which should be used sparingly, and which should be avoided and phased out by 2025. This guidance is integral to Countdown’s communication with its vendor brands.

Countdown has become the first New Zealand supermarket to roll out an easyto-identify on-pack recycling label, the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL). This is to make products that align with consumers recycling intentions easy to identify.

The ARL is an evidence-based system that provides easy-to-understand recycling information. Each label will tell customers how to best recycle or dispose of each type of packaging item. This label was on 55 percent of Countdown branded products in June 2022, and the company has the target of it being on 100 percent of its products by the end of the year.

Countdown’s carbon footprint has reduced its carbon emissions by 46 percent in a 2022 overview compared to its emissions baseline from 2015.

This was the result of concerted effort and investment, with a focus on its instore refrigeration systems. Through our investment in refrigeration systems, we have upgraded or retrofitted over 130 of our stores since 2017.

Countdown has significantly reduced refrigeration emissions, moving its focus more squarely onto transport decarbonisation. For its online delivery trucks, Countdown is looking to build on its pilot of five EV trucks, which joined the fleet in 2019, with the support of a grant from EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority).

The Sustainability Consortium developed the THESIS platform, which is used by several other food retailers globally. Regarding the production and distribution of its products, Countdown engaged 13 of its most material vendor brands in a programme to report their emissions using the THESIS platform in 2022. Currently, the enterprise is reviewing supplier results, intending to expand the programme.

The enterprise regularly engages with its suppliers, customers and other stakeholders on its supply chain sustainability work across several different channels.

Countdown recently released our 2022 Sustainability Wrap detailing our progress towards our sustainability commitments, accounting for over 40 ambitious commitments the enterprise wants to meet by 2025. n