Retail accounts for 20% of the GDP of South Africa; it is a massive industry, and it is going through a shift. This shift emphasises sustainability and circular practices that not only reshape the retail landscape but also help ease the conscience of conscious consumers.

Sustainability is at the forefront of Woolworth’s identity, and they ensure that customers are aware of and understand their sustainable business practices as a core part of their offering. For 20 years, Woolworths has embarked on its ‘Good Business Journey’ programme that seeks to implement sustainable practices at every point in the Woolworths value chain.

Packaging

Food packaging is a real issue if left unmonitored. People need to eat, and food packaging is necessary for food safety. A Woolworths spokesperson says, “We begin the design phase. We need our packaging to be food safe, and consider the quality, weight, and recyclability of the packaging. Over the years, we have replaced or removed unnecessary packaging, such as plastic cutlery, plastic straws, certain fruit trays, and of course, single-use plastic shopping bags.” Woolworths’ packaging team’s strategy ensures recyclability where possible, avoiding overpacking, and buying local packaging whenever possible.

As much as Woolworths brand products are thought of, they also consider private-label products. Vision 2025+ forms part of the ‘Good Business Journey’ and aims to address the complex and interconnected sustainability challenges the retail brand faces. Part of Vision 25+ is ensuring all private-label products are reused, repaired, resold, or recycled by 2025. The company also aims for at least one renewed, reused, or recycled material input by 2030. On this, the Woolworths spokesperson says, “We are on track to meet our 2030 goals where packaging is concerned. The macro context of these challenges is outside of our control, such as scarce skill sets or low investment, but this has improved in recent years due to legislation moving the industry. We work within a complex cross-sector ecosystem, and we are on track with our internal goals.”

One of the big wins Woolworths has achieved is saving over 40 million single-use plastic shopping bags from going to landfill in 2024 alone, an outcome they are proud of and one that has a real environmental impact.

Renewables

Renewables form part of Woolworth’s sustainable vision too. The spokesperson says, “To date, Woolworths has installed solar systems at its head office in Cape Town and various distribution centres. In the past year, we generated over 2 million kWh in renewable energy and purchased 7.2 million kWh in renewable energy. At Head Office, the new solar installations are expected to triple the capacity of the initial systems set up in 2013, adding an additional 357 kilowatts. This will bring the total capacity to 465 kilowatts and enable the head office/support office to generate about 11% of the building’s energy needs, including our data centre, to be met through solar power.”

Beyond this, the company also announced an additional R17 million investments into renewable energy projects, including solar installations and other renewable energy agreements, that improve the use of renewables across their value chain.

Their spokesperson adds, “We are working with the renewable energy industry, energy traders, retail landlords, government, and local municipalities to make this shift. Our energy goal encompasses not only switching to renewable energy but also maximising energy efficiency.”

Electric Vehicles

Using Electric vehicles (EVs) reduces carbon emissions. This is a fact, and Woolworths aims to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, so they rolled out EVs in two categories: online home deliveries and long-haul freight refrigeration.

“Woolworths partnered with DSV and Everlectric for electric panel vans that deliver food to homes upon order,” says the Woolworths spokesperson.

Additionally, they partnered with DP World for their AxlePower long-haul refrigeration trucks. These trucks use a specially designed axle that converts kinetic energy into electricity, which powers the refrigeration unit on a long-distance truck. Woolworths predicts a saving of 27tonnes of carbon emissions each year due to this technology.

The Woolworths spokesperson reports, “There has been negligible downtime since inception, and our 42 EVs save over 400 tonnes of tailpipe emissions annually. Each EV panel van has a range of 300 km at full charge and performs as well as, and due to regenerative braking in some cases, better than a patrol car.

As retail gears for shifts in sustainability, Woolworths offers a case study of how cleaner production is both economically and environmentally beneficial and hopefully paves a way forward for one of South Africa’s biggest industries to adapt to circular practices.