Target Goes for Eco-credibility By Adding Recycling Bins to All Stores

In an effort to bring recycling practices out of the back room and into the public eye, Target is adding customer recycling bins to all its stores, Reuters reports.

Shawn Gensch, Target’s Vice President for Brand Marketing, said he does not expect the bins themselves to generate much extra traffic, but the retailer is looking for a boost in the customer shopping experience.

Gensch said the program aims to pay for itself by selling recyclables to companies that recover such items.

Before now, Target has kept its recycling efforts behind the scenes, including efforts like recycling and reusing packing boxes, clothes hangers and the like.

Now, the retailer is putting in recycling bins for items like plastic bags, beverage cans and bottles and electronic devices such as cell phones and MP3 players.

As for logistics, Target will truck recycled materials from its 1,700 stores to distribution centers via trucks that are already making the rounds.

About a year ago, UK retailer Tesco began testing a program to let consumers recycle packaging from items bought in the store at its sites. That program was tied to gaining insights into which elements of packaging could be reduced or eliminated from the supply chain.

Supermarkets such as Wegmans and Sobeys report progress with programs that encourage shoppers to reuse plastic bags in an effort to reduce packaging waste.