Large Distribution: The Commitment of Coop

The European Commission has given itself a strategy to increase the use of recycled plastic, eliminate some single use products and reduce the consumption of others, progressively arriving at the banning of microplastics. Coop has readily adhered to the campaign and in 2050 aims to achieve the use of 6,400 tons of recycled plastic, instead of the normal one, confirming the historic attention of Cooperativa in regards to environmental protection. Not only, Coop foresees to reach within 2022, 8 years in advance, the mandatory targets fixed by the European Union for 2030: over the span of four years all Coop products will be created from recyclable or compostable or reusable packaging materials. Target that will already be met in 2019 by their branch ViviVerde, expressly dedicated to environmental protection.

Concrete Actions

• Since 1996 there have been interventions on the packaging to reduce the environmental impact;

• Already since 2004 the glasses and plates ViviVerde have been biodegradable and compostable;

• Since 2012 the ear cotton buds are biodegradable;

• The bottles of water od Coop suppliers will have minimum 30% of recycled material within December of 2019, percentage that will increase to 50% by January of 2023;

• The trays of fruit and vegetables since September of 2008 are made of 40% recycled propylene;

• The detergent bottles for the house and clothing within 2025 will have 25% recycled plastic inside.

Innovative Actions

• Coop is the main distributor of fruit and vegetable products and was the first to introduce, in 2007, the talking labels, that signal to the consumer the materials used for the packaging and where to throw away the waste.