Spar is now bringing compostable organic bags for fruit and vegetables purchases -instead of plastic bags- to all 182 Spar, Eurospar, Interspar and Spar Gourmet stores in Vienna. This means plastic bags will disappear so long before the legal ban from the fruit department. Further markets are ongoing.
About 40 percent of the fruits are bought unpackaged at Spar. Lots of fruit and vegetables are then transported to the customer's home in thin plastic bags. "In order to significantly reduce the consumption of plastic bags, we have been offering returnable networks for over a year, which can be used over and over again. But not all our customers have such a network. For the time being, therefore, we are switching to bio-based, compostable organic bags in Vienna," explains Hans K. Reisch, board director. The new organic bags are already delivered to the stores and the existing plastic bags were replaced. Remaining stocks of the old bags are being used up.
Benefits of the organic fruit bag
The organic bags are mostly made from renewable raw materials. Fruits and vegetables keep fresh longer in a bag, and are more easily storable. The "OK compost HOME" certification confirms that within a maximum of 12 weeks, these bags will largely decompose in home compost and at least 90 percent will disintegrate into carbon, water and biomass after six months at the latest. This means that consumers can gather their bio-waste in these bags at home.
Saving on plastic together
Under the title "Saving Plastics Together with Spar", customers will be made aware of the possibilities to reduce their plastic consumption or general packaging at Spar. Prevent, reduce and promote recycling is the focus of the savings program for plastic reduction. For example, Spar started leaving the packaging off organic bananas 10 years ago, thereby saving 700 tons of plastic. Biodegradable packaging for organic fruit and vegetables is common practice.
Recently, customers can bring back their own containers for delicatessen shopping at Spar. Interspar has been offering free paper bags for fruit and vegetables for a year now. Spar also stocks the largest range of drinks in reusable bottles under the nationwide supermarkets and offers mineral water, beer, fruit juices and dairy products in returnable containers in every store.
For more information: www.spar.at