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Hidden mountains of waste in supermarkets and drugstores

According to a study by GVM, almost a third of all packaging waste in Germany is generated at the checkouts of supermarkets, drugstores and other retailers and wholesalers.

Almost a third of all packaging waste in Germany is generated at the checkouts of supermarkets, drugstores and other retailers and wholesalers. This is shown by a study carried out by the Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung (GVM) on behalf of NABU. 

The so-called transport packaging makes with 5.5 million tonnes per year, just under 30 per cent of packaging consumption from. Transport packaging is used to transport goods from production or the warehouse to the retail and wholesale trade. It is mostly disposable packaging, A good two thirds are made of paper, cardboard and carton (PPK). According to NABU, this is a huge waste of resources, as not only waste paper but also around 600,000 tonnes of primary material are used to produce PPK packaging.

„In order to meet the demand for cardboard and cardboard transport packaging, the equivalent of around 1.2 million logs of softwood are needed every year. This corresponds to an area of almost 7,500 football pitches. Given the scarcity of resources and the great importance of forests as CO2 sinks, we can no longer afford such a waste. So far, transport packaging has fallen under the radar. This must change; it must finally become the focus of politics and business.“

Leif Miller, NABU Federal Managing Director 

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Reusable crates as an alternative

Most PPK transport packaging is so-called shelf-ready cardboard packaging in which products can be offered directly on the shelf. 70 per cent of shelf-ready cardboard boxes are used to transport food. In the study, the consumption of transport and product packaging was compared using four product groups (cereals, frozen vegetables, pasta and chocolate) as examples. „A good 85 per cent of all packaging waste is generated on the journey of a 500 gram plastic pasta package from production to the shopping trolley. This means that almost six times as much packaging waste is generated for the transport of the pasta as for the product packaging itself,“ says Miller.

The best solution is to use reusable crates to reduce the environmental impact of transport packaging. For some product groups such as fruit and vegetables, baked goods and meat products, reusable packaging is already established practice. However, the potential is far from exhausted.

The study shows for fruit and vegetables, baked goods, eggs, cereals, frozen vegetables and chocolate bars, that material savings can be achieved after just three to six cycles of a reusable crate compared to the disposable PPK alternative. Reusable crates for fruit and vegetables already go through 35 cycles or more, which saves over 90 per cent of packaging material compared to disposable crates.

„The existing reusable systems must be further expanded and new systems must be developed across manufacturers and retailers,“ demands Dr Michael Jedelhauser, NABU's circular economy expert. „The Legislators should honour and specifically promote the ecological benefits of reusable packaging - for example by making reusable packaging more favourable from a tax perspective or by making disposable packaging more expensive.“

Source: NABU

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