Our PET Recycling Loop
REIMAGINING OUR CLOSED CYCLES
We are aware of our responsibility to the environment and we comprehensively tackle the issue of recycling with our expertise.
WELL PACKAGED
Plastic has proven itself as a packaging material over many years. Whether for beverages, ice cream or other kinds of food – the unique properties of plastic offer a wide range of benefits to consumers and the environment. Plastics are lightweight, strong, flexible and generally recyclable. As a packaging material, they guarantee food safety and the shelf life of the product.
Plastic packaging is used to efficiently transport and store food and to prevent food waste. It protects valuable resources, but must also be produced and recycled in a responsible and resource-conserving way. Our understanding of plastics is reflected in REset Resources, the jointly developed, comprehensive circular economy strategy of the companies of Schwarz Group.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY STRATEGY RESET RESOURCES
Conserving resources and embracing the circular economy: With the jointly developed, comprehensive circular economy strategy, REset Resources, the companies of Schwarz Group have set themselves ambitious targets related to resource sovereignty and security of supply.
Together with Lidl, Kaufland, PreZero, Schwarz Digits, and Schwarz Corporate Affairs, we are committed to guiding principles and packaging goals that, for the first time, include all types of packaging and materials.
RESET RESOURCES SHAPES RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITHIN FIVE FIELDS OF ACTION:
OUR PET RECYCLING LOOP – A SOPHISTICATED SYSTEM
MEG, the Schwarz Produktion beverage and recycling network, has operated a recycling loop for PET deposit scheme bottles since 2010. Every single mineral water and soft drink PET bottle returned to a bottle deposit machine at Lidl in Germany is fed back into our recycling loop and being recycled. Bottles returned to Kaufland are also reprocessed in this loop.
In recent years, we have also invested in the restructuring of our MEG production network in Germany, reducing our average transport distances to around 180 km. That helps to minimise greenhouse gas consumption. By establishing new recycling and plastics sites, we have also reduced the distances for the return transport of empty bottles.
PET-Recycling
We have been collecting, sorting and recycling beverage bottles for many years now.
0%
recycled material is used in our PET bottles in Germany.
WHY DO WE USE PET FOR OUR BEVERAGE PACKAGING?
We are working intensely on increasing the proportion of recycled materials in our bottles. Ever since June 2021, all the beverage bottles we have delivered to Lidl and Kaufland in Germany have been made with 100 % recycled PET material* (R-PET). They no longer contain any new plastic. But that is not enough for us: we are also further optimising our PET bottles for the international market. To save as much new PET material as possible and further improve our ecological balance sheet, we are also reducing the weight of our bottles.
Our recycling loop for PET single-use bottles from the bottle deposit scheme saves a total of more than 90,000 tonnes of new PET and almost 170,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by using recycled PET and reducing the weight of our bottles. The total savings have actually been around 900,000 tonnes of PET since 2008, and a total of almost 1.7 million tonnes of CO2.
Of course, these successes do not signal the end of our commitment – we are continuously improving our PET bottles.
* The statement refers to the bottle body, not the cap and label.
OLD BOTTLES BECOME NEW ONES.
For us, the single-use bottles of today are the recyclable materials of tomorrow.
around 0
tonnes of PET – this is how much we have saved since 2008.
With our recyclable bottle, we have created an efficient recycling loop in Germany that lets us offer consumers a cost-effective ecological alternative.
FURTHER SAVINGS ON PLASTICS AT SCHWARZ PRODUKTION
Our goal is to ensure maximum recyclability for our plastic packaging. In doing so, we want to ensure we can reuse our recyclable materials and keep resources in the loop. Furthermore, we are continuously reducing the weight of our plastic packaging and using more and more recycled material. In doing so, we are making a particularly significant contribution to the REdesign, REduce and REcycle fields of action in the comprehensive circular economy strategy of the companies of Schwarz Group REset Resources.
In addition to our PET beverage bottles, we are making our other packaging lighter and more efficient: one achievement that is especially worthy of mention in this regard relates to the Solent nut bag for the brand “Alesto Selection”. We gradually reduced its weight by up to 20 % in recent years. We will continue to save on further quantities of plastic in the future through adapted designs and innovations.
ENSURING RECYCLABILITY
We are well on track in using less plastic and in ensuring that our trading partners’ own brand packaging is as recyclable as possible.
around 0 Billion
bottles are recycled by our facilities every year.
We are also working intensively on the use of other recycled plastics apart from recycled PET in our packaging. Already today, we cover around 76 % of the total amount of plastic needed for our food packaging with recycled material**.
**The statement refers to retail packaging.
