5 ShopRite Stores Launch Recycling Kiosk

Pilot program enables customers to sort and drop off flexible-film plastic packaging

6/5/2024

ShopRite customers can now take their flexible-film waste – ranging from empty potato chip bags to potting soil packages – to the dedicated recycling kiosks at five New Jersey stores.

In honor of World Environment Day (June 5), ShopRite and its store brands Paperbird and Bowl & Basket have teamed up with CPG companies Procter & Gamble, Purina and Campbell’s Snacks, as well as recycling company TerraCycle, to roll out a recycling program for flexible-film plastic packaging.

The kiosks enable shoppers to drop off all brands of otherwise hard-to-recycle flexible-film packaging and divert waste from landfills. The colorful kiosks are positioned outside five New Jersey ShopRite stores and feature instructions for sorting the flexible film. ShopRite customers can take their flexible-film waste – ranging from empty potato chip bags to potting soil packages – to the dedicated recycling kiosks at the following stores:

Brookdale ShopRite: 1409 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
ShopRite of Newark: 206 Springfield Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103
ShopRite of Greater Morristown: 178 East Hanover Avenue, Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
ShopRite of Livingston: 483 South Livingston Avenue, Livingston, NJ 07039
ShopRite of Stirling: 1153 Valley Road, Stirling, NJ 07980

The following items are accepted through the new recycling kiosks:

Home, pet and garden packaging: fertilizer and soil bags, pet food and treat packaging, laundry and dish detergent pouches
Flexible snack packaging: chip and snack bags, candy wrappers, food and drink squeeze pouches
Plastic wrap and shopping bags: plastic shopping bags, bread bags, plastic film/wrap

“We are pleased to work with TerraCycle, the leader in recycling hard-to-recycle materials,” said Karen Meleta, chief communications officer at Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp., the ShopRite banner’s logistics and merchandising arm. “For more than four decades, ShopRite has supported and advanced a wide range of recycling and waste-reduction initiatives to make a meaningful difference in the communities served by ShopRite stores. The new ShopRite flexible plastics recycling kiosk created by TerraCycle in collaboration with brand partners is a continuation of that commitment to community and sustainability.”

“Most flexible plastic, including snack wrappers, chip bags and food packaging, ends up in the trash, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” noted Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Trenton, N.J.-based Terracycle. “The ShopRite Flexible Packaging Recycling Kiosks provide residents of Morris and Essex counties more access to recycling these hard-to-recycle single-use plastics, and we hope to see many shoppers take advantage of these free recycling kiosks.”

TerraCycle will clean and recycle the flexible film into raw formats that manufacturers can use to make new products. Paper-based wrappers, food waste, pet food, pet accessories, canvas totes, food storage containers, glass containers, bottles and other rigid plastics won’t be accepted at the kiosks.

The company will track usage of the kiosks and report the results to ShopRite and Wakefern to gauge the success of the program and determine whether it should expand.

Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern is the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative. The company comprises more than 40 members, including Saker ShopRites, that independently own and operate 270-plus supermarkets. Wakefern is No. 31 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 listing of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

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