Tip Top Have Yeeted Their Plastic Bread Tags for Recyclable Cardboard Ones

It will save the country 400 million bits of plastic a year.

Tip Top bread is one of Australia’s most iconic carby brands. With millions of customers buying their loafs across the country, and big food chains trusting them with the buns for their burgers, their products are just about everywhere.

Unfortunately, the downside to being a huge brand name anywhere is that it can wind up causing a lot of plastic waste, and when pieces of packaging are mixed materials or the wrong size, it can be difficult to recycle.

Thankfully, Tip Top has thought about this problem and are changing a vital part of their sliced bread packaging to make the ultimate difference.

To help rid over 400 million bits of plastic from Australia (and our oceans) in a year, Tip Top are committing to saying buh-bye to their plastic bread tags and are opting instead for recyclable cardboard ones.

(Image: Tip Top)

Starting the rollout in South Australia (Australia’s queen of environmentalism, let’s be real), Tip Top products will be fitted with the new cardboard tags made from industrial and consumer waste from Thursday.

The bready bois then plan to rollout the cardboard tags Australia wide over the next two years.

So far, they’re hoping to remove 11 million plastic tags from SA by the end of the year—honestly a big win.

If you don't already know, bread tags are not recyclable in your kerbside bins, and they're hard to break down even at an industrial level because they're so small.

At the moment, if you want to get rid of your bread tags without causing waste, you have to donate them to small business who turn the plastic pieces into other objects through small scale recycling or by hand—which not everyone can do.

Now before you worry about how well these new tags might hold up, Tip Top has described the new tags as equally durable (plus let’s not forget how flimsy the plastic ones are anyways).

The cost for the switch is also set to be passed on to retailers instead of customers so it’s a win for our wallets.

“South Australia probably leads the way in Australia in terms of kerbside recycling. These can be recycled through the kerbside process,” Tip Top sales director Graeme Cutler said.

“The only thing we’re suggesting is tucking them inside something else when you put them in the paper recycling, a carton or envelope or cardboard box.

“Because they’re quite small, they may not actually find their way through the process. It’s a small adjustment.”

While Tip Top are encouraging customers to recycle the new carboard tabs in their regular kerbside bins, because they’re cardboard I can’t see why you couldn’t also add them to your home compost or kurbside compost bins instead? Even better.

While this is a huge step in the right direction, you might be wondering: “What about the plastic bags the bread comes in?”

Well, right now Tip Top doesn’t have their own program on these just yet, but you can return most soft plastics (including bread bags) to your supermarkets with the REDcycle program. All Woolies and Coles stores around the country are on board so find your local store and recycle that plastic!

On top of the tags and REDcycle, Tip Top aims to give all of its products 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025, so fingers crossed.