They have long been an integral part of Kaufland’s fruit and vegetable departments: reusable bags in which customers can transport loose fruit and vegetables. Now the grocer is taking the next step in terms of sustainability and is also offering reusable bags for bread and rolls in its bakeries nationwide.
“The long-term sustainability of our product range is very important to us. We are, therefore, constantly optimizing existing products and try to integrate reusable solutions in our stores wherever it makes sense,” says Julia Herrmann, Head of Merchandise Business at Kaufland, adding: “The bread bag is an ideal example of how our customers can save even more plastic in their everyday lives without much effort. This is because the window is often not removed from bakery bread bags , which means that their plastic and paper cannot be optimally recycled."
Bag is Machine Washable
The bread bags have large viewing windows, making it easy to identify the item(s) at the checkout. One bag costs 0.99 euros, it can be washed at 30 degrees and used again and again, explains the company.The new bread bag complements Kaufland’s range of practical reusable solutions. Reusable fresh produce bags have been available in the fruit and vegetable departments since 2019. Since last year, Kaufland customers have been able to fill their loose eggs into a reusable egg box in many stores; and the company has dispensed with disposable plastic lids for some yoghurt and cream cheese products from its own brands K-Classic, K-Free and K-take it veggie and offers reusable lids instead. By dispensing with disposable lids, around 60 tons of plastic can be saved every year, Kaufland explains.
“The sustainable design of our product range plays an important role for us,” Kaufland states. This also applies to packaging in particular. “As part of the Schwarz Group companies’ jointly developed REset Plastic strategy, we have been reducing the use of packaging materials wherever possible for years. We are making great strides towards our goal and have already exceeded our original target for 2025 by the end of the 2022 fiscal year.” Kaufland has saved 31 percent of its plastic use in Germany since 2017. “We have, therefore, extended our target: we want to use 30 percent less plastic by 2025 and 35 percent less by 2027. In addition, more than 50 percent of our own-brand packaging is already fully recyclable, and we use an average of around 34 percent recycled material,” explains company spokesperson Alisa Götzinger.
For customers, shopping should remain simple – just with less packaging waste. All cucumbers and many other fruit and vegetable items are, therefore, unpackaged. “As an alternative to the knotted bags, we have fresh produce bags in our range. These are washable and reusable. By using fresh produce bags, we can save up to 700 tons of disposable bags per year.”
Another example: with the Kaufland fresh food tray, customers can take their purchases home with them at the service counters in their own reusable containers. Kaufland also works together with FairCup. Customers can have their purchases, such as antipasti, filled into the FairCups and pay a one-off deposit of 1.50 euros per FairCup lid included. After use, the FairCups with lids are then returned to the reverse vending machine and are thus returned to the FairCup reusable cycle.Up to 100 percent recycled plastic is used for the packaging of some products in the drugstore sector, such as shower gel or toothbrushes, adds the spokesperson.
