Tip Top has replaced plastic bag tags with 100 per cent recyclable tags on the packaging of its bread in Victoria and New South Wales.
The sustainable bag tags are made from 100 per cent recycled cardboard and are available on shelves across VIC and NSW now. They originally launched in South Australia in November 2020 and are a part of Tip Top’s push to have all of its packaging made out of 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable materials by 2025.
The move will eventually eliminate 400 million pieces of single-use plastic every year as the sustainable bag tags continue to roll out across Australia and New Zealand.
Graeme Cutler, Director of Sales and CSR Lead at Tip Top ANZ, said moving to more sustainable packaging is “simply the right thing to do”.
“We want to be proactive, rather than wait for our customers to ask us to address our waste. And, when it comes to working together as a nation to eliminate single-use plastics, we want to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.”
Cutler says that the sustainable bag tags were developed with rigorous testing and they promise no compromise on freshness or taste.
“Customers can expect to be provided with the same Tip Top quality — freshly baked every day — that millions of Australians have enjoyed since the bakery began in 1958.”
Following on from its debut in South Australia, the initiative will remove almost 100 million tags across the three states, potentially removing 35 tonnes of plastic tags from entering waste streams.
Tip Top encourages consumers to recycle their cardboard tags in kerbside recycling bins by tucking the tag securely inside other paper or cardboard products, such as an envelope or paper bag, giving them the best chance of being recycled into a new product rather than being sent to landfill.
According to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australians consume roughly 3.5 million tonnes of plastics annually and Australian households are the largest contributors to this waste.
“Small pieces of plastic such as bread tags are problematic in recycling and waste streams,” adds Rebecca Gilling, Deputy CEO of Planet Ark.
“For this reason, Planet Ark is pleased to see Tip Top designing out waste by replacing plastic bread tags with a circular solution made from 100 per cent recycled cardboard. When recycled correctly, the cardboard will be used again, closing the recycling loop and keeping resources in use.”
The Australian government has plans to phase out “problematic and unnecessary plastics” by 2025, the Victorian Government has committed to ban certain single-use plastic items by February 2023, while the NSW Government has plans in place to phase out these plastics from next year.
On top of the Australia-wide rollout of the cardboard tags planned to take place over the next two years, the sustainable bread tags are just the first of a series of packaging innovations under the company’s ‘Feeding Aussie families more sustainably’ vision, including addressing recycling confusion by updating packaging with the Australasian Recycling Label.
“It’s part of the bigger picture for us,” says Cutler. “Our goal is that by 2025, all Tip Top packaging will be 100 per cent recyclable, reusable, or compostable, to help us close the loop on waste.
Good on ya mum Tip Tops the one
Let’s hope people support your new changes ????????
These new bag tags do not work for me. I store my bread in the freezer to keep it fresh and the first time took it out the tag just folded and became unusable. Need to go back to the drawing board and try coating with wax to withstand dampness.
I agree Roger Scott, they do not cope with being in the freezer, fold clean in half and completely unusable, then you have nearly a whole loaf in the freezer with no tag