The Pick n Pay Hyper in Faerie Glen has joined the global movement to minimise plastic waste by offering its customers plastic-free packaging for fruit and vegetables.

Whether you are the one sipping that drink or milkshake through a plastic straw or a food franchise wanting to play your part in the sustainability of the planet, we all need to take steps to remove single-use plastics. Are you on board?

Shoprite created 100 jobs with the opening of its new store in Marapyane, Mpumalanga on Thursday, 27 June. The store’s total staff complement is 137, which includes 124 youth (between the ages of 18 and 35) and 82 women.

Pick n Pay has launched a ‘nude’ fruit and vegetable produce wall – a dedicated plastic and packaging-free zone in 13 stores across the country as part of a trial to measure customers’ readiness to switch from pre-packaged food to loose products.

Shoprite Botswana recently opened its own world-class distribution centre (DC) in Taung, Gaborone. The 3 700 m² state-of-the-art facility is the first in the country that can handle storage across multiple temperature disciplines, contains tropical ripening rooms as well as value-added packing facilities.

Zimbabwe’s biggest retail operator, OK Zimbabwe, is revamping its outlets and plans to open more stores, riding on the back of a 37 percent revenue increase and limited exposure to foreign currency woes afflicting other operators and industries in the country.

In celebration of World Environment Day, a day that encourages citizen-action to improve our environment, Woolworths has announced a partnership aimed at increasing recycling rates in South Africa.

Pick n Pay has launched monthly People n Planet Beach Clean-Ups which will see the retailer partner with local organisations across the country to drive public awareness for plastic waste and action for responsible disposal.

Since 2008 Pick n Pay has reduced its energy intensity per square metre by 36.9% through both improvements in technology and behavioural change. The group has also expanded its solar installations.

Food Lover’s Market has expanded its hugely popular eatery stores in Gauteng with the launch of Food Lover’s Eatery in Braamfontein’s Business Improvement District. The store opened on May 16 to a positive response from the local business community and University of the Witswatersrand students. The newest addition to the Eatery division saw 4,000 customers on opening day, with a queue leading out of the store for most of the day.

Plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds with plastic stems will be banned from sale and use in England from April 2020.

The Refillery, Johannesburg’s very first plastic-free grocery store, is helping South Africans fill their pantries, while addressing the plastic pollution crisis.