Portuguese retailer Continente has added a set of recycling instructions to the packaging of selected private-label products, in association with Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV).
The move aims to help customers in preparing and separating the packaging materials for recycling.
SPV is a Portuguese non-profit group that promotes the collection and recycling of packaging waste.
Recycling Instructions
The instructions explain how each product is to be recycled and indicates the 'eco-point' for disposal.
They also provide information on how to fold milk cartons or drain liquid yoghurt bottles, before placing them in the bins.
Continente aims to add recycling instructions to all private-label packaging within two years.
The retailer invited consumers to provide their feedback ahead of developing the instructions.
Shopper input helped to define the most relevant information on recycling, including factors such as the importance of colours, and choice of words and expressions, the retailer said.
'Greater Potential For Recyclability'
According to SPV's CEO and managing director, Ana Isabel Trigo Morais, the project "gives packaging a greater potential for recyclability and also makes all the iconography related to selective separation simpler, more perceptible and clearer to the consumer."
Last year, Continente pledged to make all its product packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025.
The retailer has focused its attention on the disposal of plastics, by increasing the proportion of recycled plastic in its packaging material and ensuring the effective recyclability of its packaging.
Circular Plastics Economy
Sonae MC’s director of private label, Ana Alves, highlighted that the transition to a circular plastics economy was possible only with the involvement of suppliers, retailers, and consumers.
She pointed out that process “begins with the design of recyclable packaging, the materials from which can be recycled and then incorporated into new packaging."
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
