Dusseldorf. The Real supermarket chain wants to do away with plastic bags in the fruit and vegetable department by winter 2020. The thin plastic bags are to be replaced by free paper bags made of recycled material. The supermarket chain also wants to offer reusable nets. However, customers will have to buy these. By doing away with plastic bags in stores, the company says it can save up to 70 million plastic bags.
The German League for the Environment and Nature Conservation sees the reduction of plastic bags as a sensible step in the right direction. Nevertheless, it criticizes the use of paper bags as an alternative. Although these would be easier to break down in nature, their production unfortunately requires a high input of resources. More energy and water are needed to produce paper bags than plastic products. It would be better to use reusable bags, such as those already used by Edeka and Rewe.
"Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role for our customers in the food retail sector," mentioned the company's chief executive Patrick Müller-Sarmiento. Therefore, the company wants to take further steps in the future to protect the environment.
In our sustainable news you can find out the most important news from the fields of environmental protection and sustainability every day.
Well finally. It's nice that the supermarkets are now slowly coming around to the idea 🙂 It took long enough!
That's right! However, it will take some time before the ban comes into force. Still a good sign, of course!
Best regards
Christoph