Fourteen school children from across Australia will see their colourful artwork produced on millions of reusable shopping bags which will replace plastic bags at Coles.
The 14 kids have been selected as the winners of Coles’ bag design competition, which was instigated as part of Coles’ transition away from single use plastic bags in all supermarkets by July 1.
The talented winning artists represent communities across the country from the remote town of Kaniva in Victoria’s Wimmera to suburban Melbourne and Sydney, the north and south coasts of New South Wales and Perth.
The winners range in age from eight to 17 years and the themes of the impressive designs include flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, the sunset and forest.
The new bags will help raise funds for four community organisations – Clean Up Australia, Little Athletics, SecondBite and Guide Dogs Australia – with a portion of sales being directed to the worthy causes.
Coles will contribute 25cents from each of the four Little Athletics bags sold to invest into Little Athletics programs.
Coles Managing Director John Durkan said the sale of reusable bags was a win-win for the environment and for the four community organisations.
“We are very pleased to announce that these new range of reusable bags will not only help the environment, but will also be supporting four organisations that are important to local communities,” he said.
“These reusable bags will be a celebration of young Australian talent and the passion that children share for helping the environment. The wonderful efforts of these budding artists will be seen and appreciated by millions of customers who shop at Coles each week.”
SecondBite CEO Jim Mullan said the food relief organisation was delighted to receive 20 cents from the large re-usable shoulder bags to be sold at Coles for $2.
“The money raised will support the work of SecondBite and helps to fund the collection of surplus food, the sorting, storage and redistribution to community food programs right around Australia. For every large shoulder bag that’s sold at Coles for $2, we will be able to provide the equivalent of a meal to a person in need,” he said.
As part of the competition, Coles received more than 1000 bag design entries from primary and secondary school students across Australia. Each of the 15 winners will receive a $5,000 grant for their school to spend on an environmental or sustainability project.
The winning designs will be applied to four different types of durable, multi-use shopping bags including a shoulder bag, a chiller bag, a tote and a jute bag which will go sale from World Environment Day on June 5.
The bags are environmentally friendly because they can be used over and over again. Then, at the end of their lives, they can be recycled at REDcycle bins at Coles supermarkets.
The announcement coincides with Clean Up Australia Day this Sunday, 4 May when thousands of Australians, including Coles team members, take to their local park, beach, bushland and streets to clean up their local environment.
Coles Little Athletics Australia acknowledges and pays respect to all traditional custodians of the lands of which we work, run, jump and throw throughout Australia. We pay respect to elders both past, present and emerging.
We are committed to a positive future for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to honor their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this country and recognize the role and value of culture.
