Colruyt Group To Roll Out Reusable Bags For Fruit And Vegetables

Belgian retailer Colruyt Group has announced plans to roll out reusable bags for fruit and vegetables across the country, beginning 9 October.

The decision to roll out a reusable alternative follows a successful pilot project in 51 Bio-Planet stores.

'Negative Effect'

Christophe Dehandschutter, sales director at Colruyt and manager of the project, said, “The reusable bags were very well received by our customers. […] We did not see any negative effect on the sale of fruit and vegetables in our pilot stores.

“We received many positive reactions in-store, on social media and by customer service. We used this feedback to fine-tune our communication, working methods, and timing for the national roll-out."

Reusable Alternative

The initiative aims to replace single-use plastic bags in the fruit and vegetable section with an alternative that can be reused up to a hundred times.

The retailer will introduce the reusable bags in Colruyt Lowest Prices, Spar Colruyt Group, OKay, and OKay Compact stores.

It will offer a set of 5 reusable bags, for free, to all Xtra customers in these stores until 1 January 2020.

Dehandschutter added, "Today, there are some 2.7 million reusable bags in circulation, far more than in our most optimistic scenarios.

"Although we are fully prepared for replacing plastic bags, we have decided to make the final transition after the busy end-of-year period."

The move is expected to eliminate 150 million plastic bags annually, the retailer added.