METRO further reduces its plastic footprint

• METRO has been working on packaging optimisation since 2014
• As part of its commitment to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy, METRO eliminated nearly 500 tonnes of plastic packaging between 2018 and 2020
• By 2025, the wholesale expert aims to reduce the total annual weight of plastic packaging by a further 10%
• Whether disposal costs, plastic tax or the obligation to offer reusable dishes: METRO always keeps the challenges of its professional customers in mind

Supporting our customers

Plastic is a big issue for a wholesaler like METRO, which specialises in food. Only with appropriate packaging can high quality and hygiene standards as well as product shelf life be guaranteed. The challenge is to design packaging in such a way that it meets the quality and handling challenges placed on it, but has as small an ecological footprint as possible, for example by being made from renewable raw materials, recyclable or reusable materials. METRO's 16 million professional customers also benefit from appropriately designed packaging. Less plastic means less packaging waste and thus a reduction in waste costs. With the introduction of the "Plastic Tax" at EU level, the burden on companies that use virgin plastic in their packaging will also increase. The METRO countries Spain (2022) and Italy (2023), for example, have already announced a corresponding tax. Less plastic, especially in the form of newly produced plastic, also means financial relief here.

Promoting a circular economy

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, ordering and delivery services in the food service industry have experienced exponential growth and with it the demand for corresponding delivery packaging. METRO has been able to respond to this with a wide range of products, some of which include compostable packaging made from renewable raw materials such as bagasse, paper and cardboard or bamboo. From 2023, restaurateurs in Germany will also be required to offer reusable options for all to-go solutions, i.e. dishes that rotate in a deposit system, for example. METRO plans to test a corresponding reusable system in its own corporate catering, which now has a delivery system at the Düsseldorf campus, in order to gather experience and share it with its own customers.

Another reusable system at store level is being tested by the national subsidiary METRO France in 10 selected METRO stores in the Ile-de-France region from the beginning of 2022. Together with the LOOP solution initiated by the recycling company TerraCycle, customers will then be able to buy fast-moving items such as olive oil, mayonnaise or sauces in reusable containers subject to deposit, which can be returned empty to the store, professionally processed and then refilled.

METRO Plastic Initiative

In June 2021, METRO launched the METRO Plastic Initiative together with the Canadian social enterprise Plastic Bank, 14 selected global suppliers and its own-brand assortment as well as its 16 million professional customers. With this initiative, METRO is shining a light on products with more sustainable packaging, sensitising its customers towards responsible buying behaviour and the importance of recycling. During corresponding campaigns in the store, customers' attention is drawn to the topic of packaging and disposal.

Many people are concerned about the issues of plastic waste and ocean pollution. With the METRO Plastic Initiative, METRO gives its professional customers the opportunity to show consumers in their restaurants, bars, cafés and kiosks that they are taking responsibility - and even go beyond. Because METRO's partner Plastic Bank works with collectors in impoverished coastal regions who exchange wildly discarded plastic waste at local collection centers for a premium that they can use to provide themselves and their families with necessities like food and clothing or the access to education, for example. The collected plastic, in turn, is reintroduced into the material cycle by processing it and offering it as Social Plastic® for the production of new packaging. In the first year of the partnership alone, the METRO Plastic Initiative aims to stop 65 million plastic bottles, the equivalent of over 1.3 million kilos of plastic waste, on their way into the oceans.