K Group’s foodservice arm Kespro has introduced reusable plastic containers for transport packaging to reduce cardboard consumption by around 50 tonnes per year.
This is the equivalent of around 95,000 boxes, with each box weighing approximately 500grams.
Restaurants and cafés in Finland are obliged to recycle cardboard waste generated from foodservice transports.
Nora Hortling, purchasing and sales director at Kespro in charge of the initiative, said, “The past year has been very challenging for the restaurant sector.
"By introducing reusable plastic containers for transports, we are making life easier for our customers in the restaurant sector and helping them cut waste disposal costs. This will also significantly reduce the need for cardboard containers in our transports."
Plastic Containers
Kespro plans to complete the roll out of the new plastic containers for all customer deliveries between March and May.
Customers pay a deposit of €10 per container and return the containers to Kespro when they receive their next delivery.
The nestable and stackable containers are professionally washed after each use, Kesko added.
Schoeller Allibert Oy makes Kespro’s plastic containers at its facility in Heinola.
Certified For Food Contact
The containers, certified for food contact, are estimated to last for five years in regular use.
After that, it can be recycled as materials used for making other plastic products.
K Group updated its emissions objectives in the spring of last year, targeting carbon neutrality by 2025, with zero emissions from its operations by 2030.
The company’s objective is to make all packaging of its own brand products recyclable, reusable or biodegradable by the end of 2025.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
