Melbourne Coles store trials refill system to reduce single-use plastics

For two weeks a Coles store in Melbourne's inner west has been asking customers to bring in their old plastic bottles.

Products can now be filled up out of taps at the Moonee Ponds store, for discounts of more than 50 per cent and is all part of a plan to cut down on single-use plastics.

Three years after ditching free plastic shopping bags, the supermarket giant is trialling a new BYO system involving re-usable containers.

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"We want to be Australia's most sustainable supermarket," Coles CEO Steven Cain said.

At the store, shoppers can pour soaps, detergents and shampoo straight into their old bottles.

But this retail idea isn't new.

Down the road is one of The Source Bulk Foods' 65 stores, a zero-plastic grocer in business for a decade.

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"It's old hat – we've been doing it for a long time," Lyn from The Source Bulk Foods' said.

But Coles has more than 800 supermarkets around the country, and the trial signals significant savings if it's rolled out to its 21 million weekly customers.

Laundry detergent like Omo is 55 per cent cheaper when refilled, while a new bottle while Surf is 24 per cent cheaper.

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Shampoos and soaps are also significantly less expensive out of the taps.

The store is also cutting back on plastic packaging for fresh food and even the trolleys are 80 per cent recycled from milk bottles.

"Increasingly people are aware, kids are being better educated at schools and they'll be the next generation of consumers," Mr Cain said.