Bunnings helps to promote a circular economy by implementing product stewardship programs for customers. This is particularly helpful for materials that are complex to recycle and where responsible solutions do not readily exist for products at the end of their useful life.  

As a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, Bunnings is committed to supporting the improvement of plastic packaging recycling and trialled a plastic plant pot reuse and recycling program in selected stores in New Zealand in 2021.  

Following the success of the trial, Bunnings extended the program in October 2022 to selected stores across Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand. The program is currently available in more than 80 store locations.  

Through this program, customers can return used plant packaging made from polypropylene plastic (PP5) for reuse and recycling, including plant pots and stakes. This program also supports the reuse and recycling of waste plant pots from Bunnings’ nursery operations.  

Given many local council recycling facilities cannot accept polypropylene packaging, this program creates a circular solution by working with program partners to recycle collected materials into items such as new plastic pots. To promote extended use of the returned plastic plant pots, the pots are also made available to customers free of charge to be reused in home gardens. 

Bunnings will continue to explore opportunities to extend this program to additional stores throughout the network.