Coles’ out of date bread, bakery items, flowers and vegetables will get a new lease in life by becoming clean energy and compost at a digestion plant in Jandakot.
Coles stores at Mandurah Forum, Meadow Springs, Erskine and Halls Head will now send their organic waste to Richgro’s Anaerobic Digestion Plant, where it will be broken down and transformed into electricity.
Richgro operations manager Tim Richards said the plant used the latest technology to mimic a stomach, using waste to generate methane gas which is then fed to a generator to produce electricity.
"We can now put bread into the digester de-packaging machine,” he said.
“The machine spins at a high speed, separating the loaf of bread from the plastic, so only the bread enters the digester - a quicker and easier process.”
The waste will be collected from the stores and transported to Jandakot by recycling and waste management company Cleanaway.
This initiative is great for the environment and compliments Coles' commitment to recycling and finding other uses for surplus food.
- Coles WA manager Mark O'Connor
Coles WA manager Mark O’Connor said the initiative complemented Coles commitment to recycling and finding other uses for surplus food not fit for human consumption.
The supermarket giant also donates surplus edible food from more than 660 stores to people in need across the country through the SecondBite initiative and runs a program called Redcyle to transport plastic bags and soft plastics into furniture.
