Target puts recycling bins in all its stores

Shoppers exit a Target store with their purchases in Fairfax, Virginia, in this February 4, 2010 file photo.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Discount retailer Target Corp expects to have recycling bins in all its stores by Tuesday as it tries to gain "green" credibility from consumers looking to be more eco-friendly.

The No. 2 U.S. discount retailer does not think the recycling stations will drive additional traffic to its more than 1,700 stores, but it hopes they will help improve satisfaction for the customers who come in, Shawn Gensch, Target vice president for brand marketing, said in an interview.

The company, which says it will be the first major retailer to offer "multiple recycling options" for customers, already has taken steps like recycling or reusing items like packing boxes and hangers to reduce waste in its supply chain.

But those types of initiatives occur behind the scenes, while the recycling bins will be something the average customer can see and use, Gensch said.

"We've been doing a lot of those initiatives and we never really brought it outside of the back room," Gensch said,

Putting the recycling bins in stores for items like plastic bags, beverage cans and bottles, mobile phones and MP3 players is one step Target is taking during April, which has been designated "Earth Month" and is a time when many marketers try to emphasize eco-friendly initiatives.

Target expects the recycling program to pay for itself, with the company being able to sell some of the materials, like the plastic bags, to companies that will turn the materials into other products, Gensch said.

Recycled materials will be sent back to Target's distribution centers on trucks already making deliveries to the stores, the company said.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)