Spar Austria has announced that customers can now bring own containers for cold cuts, cheese, and meat in all Spar, Eurospar, and Interspar outlets across the country.
The decision to implement the system follows a successful pilot project carried out in 2018 and approval from food authorities.
The retailer believes that this initiative will contribute towards its packaging reduction programme, which seeks to reduce packaging materials by encouraging reuse and offering recyclable alternatives.
Positive Feedback
Hans K. Reisch, Spar Austria board member, added, "We tested this system in three Styrian stores and received a lot of positive feedback from customers who consciously shop at service counters to save on packaging."
Spar Austria has arranged for special trays and introduced stringent hygiene laws to ensure that boxes brought by customers do not come into contact with the counter, scales or cutlery.
The Process
The packing process is carried out in five steps beginning with customers handing over their containers in a tray to store employees at the service counter.
The boxes are then put on a scale and set to zero, before filling it with the customer's choice of products.
The containers are handed back to customers in the same tray.
Customers then close the containers and put labels before billing the purchase.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
