cooking and eatingToday Albert Heijn begins depositing bags that a customer will use to shop online. Other supermarkets such as Jumbo and Picnic have already done so.
Do you order groceries online and have it delivered to your home? As of today, you pay 35 cents at Albert Heijn for all plastic bags you receive. With the next order, the delivery person will take back the previously delivered plastic bags (just as with the blue box) and you’ll get 35 cents back, no matter how many bags you return. Plastic bags are recycled in this way. “Not only do we want to encourage a healthier lifestyle, but we also contribute to a better climate,” explains company spokeswoman Anushka Aspslag.
“That’s why, for example, we also stop plastic bags in the fruits and vegetables department,” she continues. And when we deliver groceries home, we’re now dealing with plastic bags. With this new system, 645,000 kilograms of plastic can be recycled responsibly on an annual basis. This is equivalent to 31 million bags.”
Picnic and Jumbo
At Picnic, customers have been paying a deposit for plastic bags since 2015. Spokesperson Rumcke Sperdijk: “This works just as it does at Albert Heijn, also at 35 cents. The fact that Albert Heijn has done this now proves to be a good idea. It’s about tens of millions of bags annually, which fortunately can all be recycled into new bags.”
“It works very well: 80 percent of the bags are returned. The granules are made from this and form the basis for new plastic bags,” says Spirdick. “About 20 percent of people continue to use them themselves, because they think they are very nice bags. Recently, they have been made even thinner, so that less plastic is needed.”
Picnic also aims for sustainability. “We deliver electric cars and come free, so people no longer have to drive to the supermarket by car. Picnic was designed in part with the goal of reducing food waste. Only what customers order is purchased. As a result, there is very little inventory,” says Sperdick. “Just before closing there is still an entire shelf full of bread in traditional supermarkets. The next day they can no longer sell it and therefore they are thrown away. At Picnic we order the exact number of loaves, so we don’t have to throw anything away. This also applies to on other fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables.”
If these bags end up in the correct plastic waste stream, they can be completely recycled into new materials
Jumbo also uses plastic bags when delivering ordered groceries online, on which customers have to pay a deposit. “There is a 5-cent deposit on these plastic bags,” says Kim van den Bomen on behalf of the supermarket. “Once customers return the bags, they will receive the deposit back.”
Same waste stream
“As Jumbo, we try to reduce our impact on the environment as much as possible. This way we want to reduce our plastic footprint and reduce waste from packaging. Plastic bags are 100% recyclable. If these bags end up in the correct plastic waste stream, they can be completely recycled.” into new materials. We want to use the deposit to encourage the return of the plastic bags to the delivery person or collection point. This way we can contribute to a better environment together.”
Since all bags are the same, plastic can be recycled very easily. “It’s a very clean stream of plastic. In this case, they are all the same bags that you can recycle very well, so it’s good that Albert Heijn is now doing that as well,” says Spierdijk.
Mr. Bear makes beautiful disposable plastic products:
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