This National Recycling Week (13 – 19 November 2023), Australian retailer Officeworks has launched a partnership with Recycle Mate, designed to promote environmental sustainability and encourage responsible recycling.
Officeworks said that the nationwide collaboration emphasises its ongoing dedication to helping its team members, customers and the community to build a more sustainable future.
The formalised partnership will raise awareness of Officeworks as a key destination for e-waste recycling through Recycle Mate’s flagship app and website; helping tens of thousands of Australians to recycle correctly.
The app gives users the ability to search for an item and provides disposal advice specific to their location. All 169 Officeworks stores across the country will be offered to those hoping to recycle items such as computers, laptops, printers, ink cartridges, pens and markers and other tech accessories through its free and accessible Bring it Back Programme.
Through Bring it Back and its partnership with for-purpose organisation Circonomy, Officeworks has already collected more than 10,000 tonnes of unwanted products, diverting them towards recycling, repair, or repurposing, and hopes to see this increase thanks to Recycle Mate.
Officeworks Chief Financial Officer Brendan Hargreaves said: “At Officeworks, people and the planet are at the heart of everything we do and partnerships with organisations like Recycle Mate, which shares our passion for working toward a more sustainable future, allows us to support our customers to make a positive difference for the planet. Creating a place where our community can safely recycle old, unwanted or damaged products such as laptops, tablets, ink cartridges and pens and markers is a small part of some of our much larger, long term business goals and supports our target of recycling 17,000 tonnes of waste by 2025.”
Recycle Mate Programme Lead, Lara Barclay said: “We are thrilled to launch this partnership with Officeworks to enhance their Bring it Back Program through our dynamic educational approach and technology solutions that benefit store teams and the community.
“Recycle Mate is a national recycling education initiative working to remove the guesswork in recycling, no matter where you are in Australia. The free Recycle Mate app has been designed with cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology and Australia’s most comprehensive recycling database – right at your fingertips.
“The programme is community driven so the more people get involved, the better it gets for everyone. Our partnership with Officeworks is working to enhance community awareness about the opportunity to return old items to Officeworks stores and direct them to their nearest options in one easy step – helping to prevent valuable materials from ending up in landfill.”
