Creating Change for Over a Decade
Woolworths has been on their Good Business Journey for some time -a sustainable business pioneer in their industry; their vision “TO BE ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST RESPONSIBLE RETAILERS”.
We at Postwink love bold sustainability goals, and our purpose is to play a part in helping our clients reach these goals. One of the pillars and focus areas is effective waste management, and Postwink has assisted with both short-term and long-term recycling initiatives since 2010.
Woolworths-Engen Igloo Project
Our first project was the Woolworths-Engen-Nampak collaboration, where Postwink developed and supplied 122 Recycling Igloos, placed at selected Engen forecourts in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban. The igloos offered a convenient recycling facility for paper, cardboard, glass and plastic as part of the companies’ commitment to reducing landfill waste and protecting the environment.
Innovation has Momentum Beyond a Campaign or Project.
We believe that nothing good is wasted – and even beyond a successful project end – products can take on new life for new inspiring projects. So when the Woolworths-Engen Igloo Project ended at the start of 2017, Postwink rebranded all 122 igloos and arranged for their relocation from the multiple Engen forecourts to be donated and sent to the Wildlands Conservation Trust, which later became the Wildtrust.
Woolworths School Recycling Programme
In 2014 and 2015, Postwink was involved with the supply, repairs and logistics of replacing old recycling stations at specific schools in the Cape Town area with newer Postwink units, including a black Recycling Igloo with Woolworths Branding.
In 2022, Postwink continued to assist by arranging for old broken recycling bins at Rustenberg High School to be removed and replaced with our Bishop Units.
Woolworths Head Office – Innovation at Source
Woolworths has been separating at-source at their head office for many years.
In 2019, we were responsible for revamping and upgrading the Woolworths corporate recycling bins, opting for the leather-touch MEDI units now installed at their offices.
In the same year, Postwink also supplied the head office with Coffee Ecocylinders – to be used by the staff to separate their coffee cups (lids and bottom) from the leftover liquids. These bins became a pilot initiative by Project Manager, Ralph Jewson, to gain insight into how people respond to, and interact with, a separation-at-source coffee bin which would eventually be implemented as an in-store recycling initiative.
Woolworths Stores (Staff / Back-End)
New Product Development
Finding custom solutions for our clients drives innovation within our organisation, which sometimes leads to creating entirely new products.
In 2014, Postwink helped innovate one such product when asked to supply a new bin for the staff area, which needed to include an ashtray. The Recycling POD was born, rolling out the design, mould and manufacturing of 100 units delivered within the very tight deadline of two months.
Woolworths Stores (Customers)
Since 2019, Postwink has been working with the Woolworths team to design and develop their own recycling bins -one for coffee cup recycling and another to separate battery/CFL bulb recycling. The bins are similar but utilise a slightly different inner system, lid layout and branding and communications messages.
New Innovative Coffee Cup Recycling Units
The problem; developing an effective coffee recycling bin was essential; up to this point, leftover liquid from tea and coffee cups was contaminating the recycling bags, ultimately reducing the amount of waste that could be recycled from each bag.
The concept of the new recycling bin was to effectively separate the different components to make recycling the lids and cups easier – and to keep the liquid out of the recycling bag completely.
Converting Consumer Insights Into Products
CFL bulbs and batteries are considered hazardous waste, and many consumers don’t know where to drop off household batteries (AA or AAA) or used CFL bulbs from home. Woolworths understood this consumer insight and set out to provide an in-store solution for their customers.
These two projects have been crucial in reducing unnecessary waste, and we know future generations will appreciate every effort we make.
Since the project rolled out, approximately “99 000 cups in the customer-facing environment and about 180 000 cups at the head office were collected”.
Latest Project: Clothing Donation Bins
Caring for Vulnerable Communities
Woolworths is working with NGO, Taking Care Of Business , to collect excess and pre-loved clothes in store for either donation or garment recycling. For this project, we designed and manufactured Woolworths square-shaped bins for the clothing collection in store.
Postwink delivered 240 bins to the Woolworths distribution centre in Cape Town, where the project is in pilot in over 20 stores.
We can’t wait to see these in every store!
At Postwink, we want to leave the world BETTER than we found it, and so our purpose is to help our clients execute on their sustainable business projects – successfully.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.“
Maya Angelou
