SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Here at Charlestown Square, we’ve committed to making positive changes in order to minimise our impact on the environment. We’re happy that many of our retailers are also joining us on the road to continuous improvement with their sustainability practices and commitment to environmental responsibility.

Here are some highlights from some of our retailers who have made a commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability, and have made significant inroads in this area.
 

H&M

The H&M Group is one of the world’s largest fashion companies, and it has a strong history in sustainable practices. Its vision is for all its operations to be run in a way that is sustainable – economically, socially and environmentally. 

H&M works hard to increase the proportion of sustainably sourced fabrics and materials in its clothes, and makes positive choices in every step of a garment’s journey – all the way from the cotton farm to the customer.

Want to make a conscious choice to shop sustainably?

You can be confident that all pieces at H&M are made with care for both the environment and the people working across the supply chain. Also, look out for the green ‘H&M Conscious’ hangtag on certain pieces, which identifies that it’s even more sustainable, with features like 100% organic cotton, and water and energy saving washing processes.
 

Did you know you can recycle your old clothes at H&M stores?

Just drop off your unwanted clothes (regardless of the brand or the condition) at any H&M store to give them a new life! Clothes are sorted into different categories to be re-worn, reused (as things like cleaning rags) or recycled as textile fibres (which can be used for things like insulation, or to blend with new fibres to make a new garment).

Want to know other ways H&M contributes to more sustainable fashion?

• The H&M group is one of the world’s largest users of organic cotton and recycled polyester.
• All cotton products in H&M’s Newborn department are made from 100% organic cotton.
• All H&M standard plastic bags are made from recycled plastic. This reduces waste, and their lightweight nature means easier transport and lower climate impact. Their strength means you can reuse them again and again!

Check out other ways that H&M contributes to a more sustainable world on the H&M website, and don’t forget to bring in your old clothes to our H&M store.

 

COUNTRY ROAD

Aussie fashion retailer Country Road is committed sustainable farming and ethical sourcing of raw materials.

It has taken measures to increase energy efficiency, include installing LED light fittings in all new and refurbished stores, using timers on shopfront lights and sensors in back areas, using only cold water in most stores and timers on hot water systems in large stores, and encouraging employees to take public transport to work.

Did you know you can get a $10 voucher for donating your old Country Road clothes?
Country Road has partnered with the Australian Red Cross on Fashion Trade - a unique clothing exchange program that rewards customers with a $10 discount voucher for donating pre-owned Country Road clothing to the Red Cross and saving clothing from going to landfill.

Find out more by visiting the Country Road store’s website or come in-store to Country Road at Charlestown Square!
 
 

THE COTTON ON GROUP (Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Typo, Rubi, Supre and Factorie)

The Cotton On Group aims to minimise its environmental impact and make continuous improvements to its sustainability practices for the future of our planet.

Some of the initiatives in place to create a better world include identifying more efficient uses of water, energy, transport and packaging, focussing on reducing, reusing and recycling throughout its stores and office locations, and empowering its employees to be advocates for minimising its environmental footprint.

Did you know that Factorie stores have started using cardboard coat hangers?
Each of The Cotton On Group stores retain and reuse their own plastic hangers whilst Factorie stores have rolled out the use of cardboard hangers. All stores also use biodegradable plastic bags to reduce the impact on landfill.

Better Cotton Initiative
In 2016, Cotton On Group became one of the first Australian retailers to join the Better Cotton Initiative. By sourcing ethically and sustainably grown cotton it ensures traceability throughout its entire supply chain, right down to the raw materials. Its short-term goal is to have thirty per cent more sustainable cotton by 2019.
 
Sustainability in Cotton On Group Stores
The Cotton On Group is on a continuous road to improvement throughout its stores to reduce its environmental footprint and improve operational efficiencies. All Cotton On Group stores have recycling practices and any unsold product is returned to its Distribution Centres for discount sale or given to charity organisations.

Find out more about the Cotton On Group’s sustainable practices here and don't forget to visit a Cotton On store  here at Charlestown Square.

 

BOOST JUICE

Fresh juice and smoothie bar Boost Juice is not only into healthy people, but it’s also into a healthy environment too. Boost is continuously researching how it can reduce its environmental footprint, and its cups play an important role in this.

After much research about the environmental impact, its current paper cups were selected as they are manufactured using a renewable and sustainable resource, printed using non-toxic, food-safe inks, which are not harmful to the environment, and more than 98% of the paper component is biodegradable.

Boost recognises that the best method is actually minimising disposable cups, and so it offers Boost Enviro Cups in every store, and to encourage customers to purchase these it offers $1 off your Boost every time you bring it in for a refill!
In addition, Boost Juice has planted 100,000 tries to date with a commitment to plant over 10,000 trees per year.

Check out all the great initiatives Boost Juice have in place on their website, and don’t forget to buy an Enviro Cup next time you are at Boost!

 

THE BODY SHOP

As a pioneering business in the area of sustainability, it will be no surprise that The Body Shop has a solid commitment to supporting threatened areas of the planet.

The Body Shop has stated that by the year 2020, it has committed to:

• Regenerating 75 million square metres of habitat
• Developing 3 new sustainable packaging innovations
• Ensuring that 70% of its total product packaging doesn’t contain fossil fuels
• Powering 100% of its stores with renewable or carbon balanced energy.

Help support The Body Shop in its endeavours towards a more sustainable world by popping in store, or visiting The Body Shop website for more information.
 
 

COLES

As a major supermarket, Coles is actively working to reduce waste and landfill through a variety of initiatives, like developing new and innovative recyclable packaging, and finding alternative uses for its waste.

Some examples of this include:

• Coles bottled water bottles are made from recycled plastic, saving 1.9 million kgs of plastic a year
• Plantic eco-plastic for packaging Coles Brand fresh beef, pork and lamb mince combines the use of renewable corn and recyclable plastic material to create a meat pack that is suitable to go in your recycling bin at home. It takes around half of the energy required to produce compared to traditional fossil fuel plastics, and is both renewable and recyclable. The Plantic meat trays are now being used for more than 50 million meat packs sold at Coles each year.
• Programs to recycle or divert food, cardboard and plastic resulted in converting more than 3000 tonnes of organic material to energy, and donating more than 7.8 million kilograms of food via its partnership with SecondBite and Foodbank.
• The REDcycle Program invites you to gather your empty bread, cereal and frozen food bags, plastic and reusable shopping bags and take them to your Coles store for recycling. The collected soft plastic material is then turned into outdoor furniture for Aussie primary schools and pre-schools. In 2016, Coles customers returned more than 299 tonnes of plastic to be recycled.

Check out other sustainability initiatives on the Coles website, and don’t forget to drop off your soft plastic bags at Coles.
 
 

WOOLWORTHS

Aussie supermarket Woolworths continually strives to innovate across its supply to chain in order to alleviate environmental pressures and mitigate climate change. It aims to use natural resources even more efficiently, and through innovation, collaboration and engagement, it has already achieved significant inroads, including:

• New and refurbished stores are 30% more energy efficient than stores opened in 2008.
• $2.3 million was invested in installing more than 4,000 rooftop solar panels across its stores around Australia.
• A focus on sustainable water consumption has led to rainwater replacing drinking water for gardens, toilets, cooling towers and truck washing at nine distribution centres.
• Moving towards a target of zero food waste to landfill, many diversion programs have been implemented, including food donation to farmers and food rescue charities like OzHarvest, FoodBank and SecondBite, as well as commercial food recycling and the new end-to-end stock-loss initiative ‘Fresher Faster’.
• New packaging for the Macro Organic brand has eliminated polystyrene trays and replaced them with compostable or recyclable trays, or simply a band around the product for identification purposes.
• Giving customers a way to recycle the soft plastic bags that packages many frozen products and bakery items (which cannot be recycled via Australia’s regular recycling program), Woolworths partners with the REDcycle recycling program to keep it out of landfill and dispose of it responsibly. REDcycle collects the plastic from dedicated bins at the front of 100 Woolworths' Supermarkets in Sydney and Melbourne and sends it to an Australian processor to make plastic park furniture. Since it began the partnership in 2015, it has disposed of 190 tonnes of plastic this way, equivalent to 47.6 million pieces of packaging! 

To find out more about the sustainable measures that Woolworths takes every day, visit the Woolworths website and make sure you bring in your soft plastic bags to recycle them!
 
 

TARGET

 Target strives to be a sustainable, ethical and socially responsible business, which works to make a positive difference in all parts of its business, by minimising its environmental impact, being active members of its communities, promoting diversity and ensuring its products are sourced ethically.

Target continues to look at ways to reduce its carbon footprint by investing in the reduction of energy consumption across its sites, including new lighting design standards featuring high efficiency LED fittings, improvements to building management systems to better control the air-conditioning, lighting and equipment usage.
 
Did you know that 77% of Target coat hangers are recycled for re-use?

This is the equivalent to 14.5 Olympic pools!

The remaining 23% of plastic waste that cannot be recycled for re-use is a mixture of broken hangers, non-Target hangers or given away at point of sale. Coat hanger waste is transported to a plastics recycler in Hong Kong where it is sorted and made into granules used for other plastic products such as garden furniture, sign posts and garden equipment.
 
Find out more about Target’s sustainability goals by visiting the Target website and don’t forget to shop at Target next time you are here!
 
 
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