Bunnings - Circular economy
Bunnings is committed to collaborating with its suppliers, industry, and government to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, products and services and work towards a circular economy.
Integral to this is minimising operational waste, optimising product packaging, and supporting product stewardship programs that help customers live more sustainably.
During the 2024 financial year, Bunnings’ operational waste which was diverted from landfill increased to 60.6 per cent, compared with 57.1 per cent in the previous financial year. This improvement was achieved through a continued focus on material waste streams, an expansion of resource recovery options and optimised waste management practices.
As a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) and the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme in New Zealand, Bunnings is committed to working towards more sustainable packaging solutions. In partnership with its suppliers, Bunnings continued its focus on removing unnecessary product packaging, improving packaging design for recovery, and reducing the use of packaging materials which are difficult for customers to recycle.
To accelerate this work, Bunnings’ Sustainable Packaging Guidelines, which help to embed APCO’s sustainable packaging design principles, were made available to all suppliers. During the year, Bunnings used these guidelines to support product suppliers to transition to more sustainable packaging solutions across its supply chain.
Bunnings continued to include the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) on product packaging to help its customers support the end-of-life recovery of packaging. Throughout the year, the ARL was applied to more than 1,100 additional products in the Bunnings range.
Bunnings values the interest and participation of customers in supporting a circular economy through product stewardship initiatives, which help to keep items that are complex to recycle out of landfill. During the year, Bunnings continued to partner with not-for-profit organisations and businesses to offer in-store drop off services to recycle household and power tool batteries across Australia and New Zealand. Together with the help of local communities, over 550 tonnes of batteries have been collected for recycling as of 30 June 2024, since the program launched in late 2021.
In South Australia, more than 1,200 tonnes of e-waste were collected for recycling in partnership with Minda and Electronic Recycling Australia through the Unplug N’ Drop program, which provides ongoing work opportunities for people with a disability.
Bunnings also extended its plastic plant pot recycling program during the year, which is offered at over 240 selected stores across Australia and New Zealand. The program offers a circular solution for plant packaging made from polypropylene plastic (PP5) which is difficult for many municipal recycling facilities to process. Customers are also invited to reuse returned plastic pots and Bunnings works with its partners to recycle remaining materials which are not reused into items such as new plastic nursery pots.
In the years ahead, Bunnings will focus on the acceleration of more sustainable packaging solutions across its supply chain and the further improvement of waste management and resource recovery solutions across Australia and New Zealand.
