Portuguese retailer Continente is encouraging shoppers to bring their own reusable containers to the deli and take away counters of Continente, Continente Modelo and Continente Bom Dia stores, in a bid to reduce plastic use.
Potential savings could reach 210 tonnes of plastic annually, the retailer has said.
'Bring empty, take full. Reuse your packaging' is the motto of the initiative, after a successful pilot last year in three Continente stores.
Clean Containers
For standardisation, control and hygiene reasons, the containers must be clean and dry, free of odours, without residue from previous use, and with a functional lid.
Glass containers are not accepted, since the potential breakage or damage to the packaging brings added food safety risks.
Employees in the deli and take-away sections weigh the product inside the box (subtracting its weight) and then paste the label with the respective bar code on a card to facilitate purchase.
Alternatively, customers can purchase one of the three airtight boxes (with a capacity of 0.5L, 1L or 1.85L) costing from €1.50 (the smallest) to €2.50 (the largest).
Until the end of June, all customers who take their own boxes will benefit from an immediate 10% discount (upon presentation of the Continente card) on take-away products at the retailer's service counters.
Shopping Bag Initiative
Meanwhile, Continente has joined the international 'goodbag' network: shopping bags with an exclusive design and 100% organic cotton.
For each goodbag purchased (at a cost of €3.50 each), a tree is planted in the customer's name, and every time they take the goodbag shopping, plastic is collected from the ocean.
The planting of trees and cleaning of the oceans is guaranteed through partner NGOs Weforest and One Earth One Ocean.
So far, the project has contributed to the planting of 34,000 trees and collected more than 64,000 plastic bags from the ocean, with goodbags now present in nine countries and over 1,400 stores.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Branislav Pekic. For more Packaging and Design news click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
