The Swiss supermarket chain Migros is experimenting with unpackaged food. Customers can now fill long-life products, such as pasta or cornflakes, themselves.
Pasta, rice, pulses and dried fruit, breakfast cereals and confectionery - up to 70 organic own-brand products are available at the filling stations in Migros shops.
Customers have the option of filling and weighing the desired products themselves. Reusable bags made from organic cotton are available for transporting the products home.
The filling stations should make it possible to buy products without disposable packaging. They are offered at the same price as the packaged products. The pilot shop with the new filling stations opened today in Baden, Switzerland. Further shops are to be added shortly.
«Nobody likes to see mountains of packaging waste in their own household. That's why we want to offer sustainable alternatives. Before a broad introduction, it is important to us that customers can give us feedback on what works well and what can be optimised so that shopping with reusable containers can actually be integrated into everyday life.»
Matthias Wunderlin, Head of the Migros Marketing Department
Over 4200 tonnes of plastic saved in packaging
In addition to the expansion of reusable options, Migros made an official promise to the Swiss population in 2013 to reduce or replace 6,000 tonnes of packaging material with more environmentally friendly alternatives by the end of this year. Today, the promise has already been far exceeded with almost 7000 tonnes. This corresponds to over 10 per cent of annual consumption.
This year alone, Migros was able to make 1870 tonnes of packaging material more environmentally friendly. Since 2013, a total of 4,250 tonnes of plastic have been saved in Migros' own-brand packaging alone.
Migros intends to continue these efforts in the coming year. For example, all Aproz mineral water bottles will be converted to 100% recycled PET. This switch will save 2660 tonnes of PET every year.
Source: Federation of Migros Cooperatives
