Lidl Switzerland has announced that it will phase out the sales of disposable plastic items by the end of 2019 in more than 120 stores nationwide.
The elimination of single-use plastics such as drinking straws, disposable cups and glasses, plates, cutlery and cotton swabs with plastic shafts will be the first concrete measure aimed at reaching the retailer's goal of reducing its use of plastic by 20% by the year 2025.
Reto Ruch, chief commercial and marketing officer at Lidl Switzerland, said in a press release, "We are pursuing a clear approach in our plastics strategy, which is: avoid - reduce - recycle. With the discontinuation of disposable plastic items, we avoid the use of plastic and thus contribute to an improvement of our plastic track record."
Concrete Initiatives
Lidl Switzerland is working with its suppliers to replace single-use plastic products with items made from alternative and recyclable materials. Additionally, Lidl Switzerland is working towards the removal and replacement of cutlery and drinking straws in the convenience and beverage sectors.
The retailer plans to sell off the remaining quantities of plastic products that have already been purchased, and then gradually switch to alternative materials,
Other initiatives taken on by the company include eliminating complementary plastic bags at the cash register - instead, the company offers reusable bags for a charge. Similarly, the group has reduced packaging plastics in their cosmetics and textile sector by removing the outer plastic packaging, as well as replacing plastic bags on its BIO Fairtrade bananas with a band.
Additionally, the company has reduced the weight of various own-brand plastic beverage bottles by approximately 30%, as well as removing individual plastic packaging on the bottles.
“Particularly in the packaging sector, there are many opportunities we are testing that can really make a difference," Ruch added.
Global Problem
In May, the EU proposed banning single-use plastics due to the rise in plastic pollution, especially in the ocean. Research published in the online journal Scientific Reports estimated that a garbage patch of some 79,000 metric tonnes – or 1.8 trillion pieces – of plastic has formed in the Pacific Ocean, consisting mainly of fishing nets, packaging, ropes, and plastic containers.
Other retailers have pledged to reduce their use of plastic in recent months. In April, Morrisons in the UK pledged that by 2025 all of its own-brand plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable, while Lidl's Belgian arm announced it plans to reduce its plastic usage by at least 20% and make all of its private-label packaging recyclable by 2025 in March.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Padideh Aghanoury. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
