Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however,...

53
Written by Valentina Romagnoli (BiPRO), Barbara Stoifl (AEA, Austrian Environmental Agency), and Anke Joas (BiPRO) – 19 December 2017 Environment Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for Retail Forum issue papers Service contract No. 07.0201/2016/736900/SERV/ENV.B1 Contribution of the REAP signatories to the Circular Economy and the environmental hotspots Final Report 2017

Transcript of Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however,...

Page 1: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

Written by Valentina Romagnoli (BiPRO) Barbara Stoifl (AEA Austrian Environmental Agency) and

Anke Joas (BiPRO) ndash 19 December 2017

Environment

Monitoring of REAP

commitments amp technical support for Retail Forum issue

papers

Service contract No 0702012016736900SERVENVB1

Contribution of the REAP signatories to the Circular

Economy and the environmental hotspots

Final Report 2017

Monitoring of REAP commitments amp technical support for Retail Forum issue papers

Service contract No 0702012016736900SERVENVB1

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B mdash Circular Economy and Green Growth Unit B1 mdash Sustainable Production Products and Consumption

European Commission B-1049 Brussels

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B mdash Circular Economy and Green Growth

2017

REAP 2016-2018

Contribution of the REAP signatories to the Circular

Economy and the

environmental hotspots

Final Report 2017

LEGAL NOTICE

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpwwweuropaeu)

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2017

ISBN [number] doi[number] copy European Union 2017

Printed in [Country]

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Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers

to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11

() The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

REAP REPORT 2017 5

Content INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

PRODUCTION PHASE 2

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE 4

CONSUMPTION 5

END-OF-LIFE 6

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS 7

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS 10

AHOLD DELHAIZE 11

APED 12

AUCHAN 13

CARREFOUR 14

COLRUYT 16

COOP (ITALY) 17

COOP NORWAY 19

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS 20

ICA 22

IKEA 24

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS 25

KAUFLAND 26

KFCOOP SVERIGE 28

LIDL 29

MARKS AND SPENCER 30

MERCADONA 31

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt 33

REWE GROUP 35

S-GROUP 36

SONAE 38

VAKCENTRUM 40

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR 42

ANNEX REAP commitments 2016 progress status and Store visit reports 2017

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 2: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

Monitoring of REAP commitments amp technical support for Retail Forum issue papers

Service contract No 0702012016736900SERVENVB1

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B mdash Circular Economy and Green Growth Unit B1 mdash Sustainable Production Products and Consumption

European Commission B-1049 Brussels

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B mdash Circular Economy and Green Growth

2017

REAP 2016-2018

Contribution of the REAP signatories to the Circular

Economy and the

environmental hotspots

Final Report 2017

LEGAL NOTICE

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpwwweuropaeu)

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2017

ISBN [number] doi[number] copy European Union 2017

Printed in [Country]

PRINTED ON ELEMENTAL CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (ECF) PRINTED ON TOTALLY CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (TCF) PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER PRINTED ON PROCESS CHLORINE-FREE RECYCLED PAPER (PCF) Image(s) copy [artists name + image ] Year Source [Fotoliacom] (unless otherwise specified)

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers

to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11

() The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

REAP REPORT 2017 5

Content INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

PRODUCTION PHASE 2

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE 4

CONSUMPTION 5

END-OF-LIFE 6

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS 7

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS 10

AHOLD DELHAIZE 11

APED 12

AUCHAN 13

CARREFOUR 14

COLRUYT 16

COOP (ITALY) 17

COOP NORWAY 19

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS 20

ICA 22

IKEA 24

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS 25

KAUFLAND 26

KFCOOP SVERIGE 28

LIDL 29

MARKS AND SPENCER 30

MERCADONA 31

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt 33

REWE GROUP 35

S-GROUP 36

SONAE 38

VAKCENTRUM 40

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR 42

ANNEX REAP commitments 2016 progress status and Store visit reports 2017

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 3: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Environment Directorate B mdash Circular Economy and Green Growth

2017

REAP 2016-2018

Contribution of the REAP signatories to the Circular

Economy and the

environmental hotspots

Final Report 2017

LEGAL NOTICE

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpwwweuropaeu)

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2017

ISBN [number] doi[number] copy European Union 2017

Printed in [Country]

PRINTED ON ELEMENTAL CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (ECF) PRINTED ON TOTALLY CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (TCF) PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER PRINTED ON PROCESS CHLORINE-FREE RECYCLED PAPER (PCF) Image(s) copy [artists name + image ] Year Source [Fotoliacom] (unless otherwise specified)

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers

to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11

() The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

REAP REPORT 2017 5

Content INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

PRODUCTION PHASE 2

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE 4

CONSUMPTION 5

END-OF-LIFE 6

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS 7

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS 10

AHOLD DELHAIZE 11

APED 12

AUCHAN 13

CARREFOUR 14

COLRUYT 16

COOP (ITALY) 17

COOP NORWAY 19

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS 20

ICA 22

IKEA 24

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS 25

KAUFLAND 26

KFCOOP SVERIGE 28

LIDL 29

MARKS AND SPENCER 30

MERCADONA 31

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt 33

REWE GROUP 35

S-GROUP 36

SONAE 38

VAKCENTRUM 40

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR 42

ANNEX REAP commitments 2016 progress status and Store visit reports 2017

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 4: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

LEGAL NOTICE

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpwwweuropaeu)

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2017

ISBN [number] doi[number] copy European Union 2017

Printed in [Country]

PRINTED ON ELEMENTAL CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (ECF) PRINTED ON TOTALLY CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (TCF) PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER PRINTED ON PROCESS CHLORINE-FREE RECYCLED PAPER (PCF) Image(s) copy [artists name + image ] Year Source [Fotoliacom] (unless otherwise specified)

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REAP REPORT 2017 5

Content INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

PRODUCTION PHASE 2

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE 4

CONSUMPTION 5

END-OF-LIFE 6

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS 7

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS 10

AHOLD DELHAIZE 11

APED 12

AUCHAN 13

CARREFOUR 14

COLRUYT 16

COOP (ITALY) 17

COOP NORWAY 19

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS 20

ICA 22

IKEA 24

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS 25

KAUFLAND 26

KFCOOP SVERIGE 28

LIDL 29

MARKS AND SPENCER 30

MERCADONA 31

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt 33

REWE GROUP 35

S-GROUP 36

SONAE 38

VAKCENTRUM 40

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR 42

ANNEX REAP commitments 2016 progress status and Store visit reports 2017

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 5: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 5

Content INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

PRODUCTION PHASE 2

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE 4

CONSUMPTION 5

END-OF-LIFE 6

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS 7

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS 10

AHOLD DELHAIZE 11

APED 12

AUCHAN 13

CARREFOUR 14

COLRUYT 16

COOP (ITALY) 17

COOP NORWAY 19

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS 20

ICA 22

IKEA 24

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS 25

KAUFLAND 26

KFCOOP SVERIGE 28

LIDL 29

MARKS AND SPENCER 30

MERCADONA 31

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt 33

REWE GROUP 35

S-GROUP 36

SONAE 38

VAKCENTRUM 40

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR 42

ANNEX REAP commitments 2016 progress status and Store visit reports 2017

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 6: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 1

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 7: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform

aims to reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector and its supply chain to promote

more sustainable products and to better inform consumers about green purchasing

opportunities Membership in the Retail Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join the

Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The Retail Forum for Sustainability launched in 2009 as

a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform aims to reduce

the environmental impact of the retail sector and its

supply chain to promote more sustainable products

and to better inform consumers about green

purchasing opportunities Membership in the Retail

Forum is voluntary and open to all retailers who join

the Retailers Environmental Action Plan (REAP)

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the

current REAP signatoriesrsquo commitments and

achievements which address the most relevant

environmental hotspots in each product life cycle

phase to provide insights on how REAP members are

contributing to a more circular economy and

summarize the topics which are considered most

relevant on a future perspective

In 2016 21 retailers over 26 REAP signatories have set

out a total of 179 commitments with different target

years The commitments have been analysed grouped

by topic and allocated to four life cycle phases

An assessment of the commitments of each REAP

signatory has been performed in order to evaluate the

alignment with the most significant environmental

impact categories and hotspots for the retail sector

based on the results of the OEF retail screening report

in the context of the EU Organization Environmental

Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots1

The outcomes of the individual assessments have been

shared directly with the retailers in order to trigger a

fruitful exchange on the most relevant environmental

topics and hotspots already addressed or which need

to be addressed more systematically to obtain a

comprehensive view of the retailersrsquo actions towards a

circular economy and to explore the existing barriers as

well as the future options and opportunities

1OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015 The

Organisation Environmental Footprint is an harmonised methodology

for the calculation of the environmental footprint of organisations

developed by the DG Environment the European Commissions Joint

Research Centre (JRC IES) and other European Commission services

with the aim of enabling Member States and the private sector to

assess display and benchmark the environmental performance of

companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental

impacts over the life-cycle

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

As of October 2017 73 of retailers that set out

commitments (16 out of 21) provided data on the

progress achieved In total 157 commitments have

been assessed and overall nearly half of them have

reached the set targets (42) More detailed results

show that 68 of the commitments with target year

2016 and 31 with target year 2017 have been

achieved For those commitments with timeline

ongoing or not indicated so far 67 have been

already implemented while understandably for a

timeline 2018 or beyond only a minor part is already

accomplished (16)

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 8: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

2 REAP REPORT 2017

2OEF retail screening report in the context of the EU Organization

Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR) Pilots April 2015

PRODUCTION PHASE The production phase can have relevant environmental impacts and

can be addressed either through improved product design or more

sustainable production processes Many of the REAP commitments

set out for the year 2016 and beyond are focused on the Production

phase with a total of 50 commitments (28 of the total number)

The OEF study2 reports that the highest contributions to the

environmental impact of the production phase come from the food

products in particular meat and meat alternatives and dairy

products responsible for land use water and soil pollution The

2016 REAP commitments however are mainly focused on palm oil

wood and paper seafood and packaging

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product eco-design represents a key challenge in the

production phase and a key action area for the

retailers since it influences all the productrsquos life cycle

phases The EU Circular Economy Action Plan suggests

different measures to foster better product design

Efforts should be put in making products more durable

or easier to repair improving their upgradability and

recyclability as well as the efficiency and the

environmental performance of energy-related

products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 7 out of 21 retailers are active with 12

commitments in this field addressing mainly the

optimization of packaging with regard to volume

composition and use of recycled or renewable

materials Adopted measures include packaging

designed with lighter materials the reduction or

elimination of unnecessary over-packaging the

introduction of refillable packaging and the elimination

of PVC

Additional initiatives

The direct exchange with the REAP signatories

highlighted that product and packaging design is one

of the most widely addressed issues Initiatives aimed

at improving packaging shape in order to maximise the

load capacity while reducing the amount of materials

used have already been implemented A strong

cooperation with the suppliersproducers is in place

and constantly pushed forward by the retailers

Future developments

The current challenge on this field appears to be the

substitution of the most widely used fish packaging the

expanded polystyrene boxes REAP members are

currently involved in different research projects in

order to find a suitable and more sustainable

substitute

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

More than one third (48) of the

commitments on the production phase where

progress data were provided have been

already achieved by end of 2016 The share of

achieved commitments is nearly the same for

the subtopic ldquoSustainable sourcingrdquo (51) For

the topic ldquoEco-designrdquo the share of achieved

commitments is slightly lower with 29

Figure 1 Contribution of REAP commitments to product design

divided into sub-topics

8

75

17

Bags

Packaging

Sustainable

products

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 9: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 3

3The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a civil organization that

promotes responsible production processing and trading of soy on a

global level httpwwwresponsiblesoyorg

PRODUCTION PROCESSES (SUSTAINABLE SOURCINGPRODUCTS)

Even for products or materials designed in a smart

way inefficient use of resources in production

processes can lead to missed business opportunities

and significant waste generation

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan are to improve the use of

resources and sustainable sourcing in production

processes to foster the cooperation across the value

chain to promote innovative industrial processes and

the remanufacturing of products

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active with 38

commitments in this field focusing mainly on palm oil

seafood and sustainable woodfibres The majority of

the commitments regard in particular the increase of

the sale of certifiedlabelled products (eg EU Eco-

Label FSC etc) the purchase of fair-trade cotton or

the substitution of palm oil the establishment of

binding requirements and guidelines within the supply

chain typically addressed by means of good

agricultural and fishing practices

Additional initiatives

Many REAP members are implementing activities on

the topic ldquomeatrdquo The actions implemented address for

instance the use of more sustainable cattle fodder (eg

RTRS certified soy locally grown plant proteins GMO-

free feed) the implementation of life cycle assessments

aimed at providing the meat with the Environmental

Product Declaration (EPD) the elimination of

antibiotics in livestock farming and the promotion of

vegetarian alternatives in order to reduce the meat

intake

Future developments

Several REAP members confirmed that the topic meat

will be increasingly addressed in the future Most of

them will continue their efforts on sustainable

agriculture reducing the use of pesticides and

supporting the diffusion of organic farming

Figure 2 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

sustainable sourcing divided into sub-topics

3 3

26

5

10

3 3

16

26

5 Labelling

Organic products

Palm oil

Paper use

Seafood

Stakeholder dialogue

Supply chain

Sustainable materials

Sustainable products

Wood fibers

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 10: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

4 REAP REPORT 2017

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

35 of the targets where progress data were

provided (40 out of 50) have been already

achieved by end of 2016 As regards the

achievement of commitments set out under the

topic ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo more

than a third (36) has been accomplished

Concerning the topic ldquoWaterrdquo the single set out

target is currently in progress

DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS RETAIL PLACE This life cycle phase together with the Production owns the

highest number of reported REAP commitments for 2016 and

beyond It counts 50 commitments (28 of the total amount) that

almost entirely focus on the main topic ldquoEmissions and

(alternative) energyrdquo The highest contributions to the

environmental impact of this life cycle phase are given by the

transport of goods and the energy consumption together with

the use of refrigerants for cooling systems in the stores The 2016

REAP commitments address these hotspots focussing on actions

towards the increase of energy efficiency the reduction of carbon

emissions and the productionuse of renewable energy

CO2 ENERGY AND WATER

Even if the EU CE Action Plan does not suggest any

special measures targeting directly distribution

logistics and retail place the contribution to circular

economy in this field is substantial

Current REAP commitments

Currently 18 out of 21 retailers are active in this field

with 50 commitments The majority of the

commitments concern the reduction of GHG emissions

related to transport and energy consumption by

increasing the share of renewable energy the

installation of more efficient machineries and electrical

appliances and the employment of natural refrigerants

Additional initiatives

The opening of new stores in areas well served by the

public transport or the conclusion of agreements in

order to extend it to the new stores are established

practices for most of the REAP signatories Many of

them are currently working on the substitution of the

old air conditioning and refrigeration systems with CO2

based ones As regards water the focus is on saving

and reuse actions such as the installation of dual

systems for the use of rainwater for the toiletsrsquo flushing

and the irrigation of the external areas

Future developments

Efforts will continue to be put into the reduction of

GHG emissions and increase of energy efficiency (ie

through the conversion to low-energy stores) the

adoption of alternative and greener fuels and the use

of electric vehicles The topic ldquowaterrdquo will continue to

be addressed by the retailers with regard to the stores

and headquarters At the same time increasing

attention is being paid to the environmental impacts of

water consumption along the supply chain

Figure 3 Contribution of reported commitments to distribution

amp logistics sub-topics

8

27

4 27

10

20

4

Distribution system

Energy efficiency

Energy management

GHG emissions

Refrigerants

Renewable energy

Supply chain

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 11: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 5

CONSUMPTION The most relevant environmental impacts as regards the

Consumption phase originate from the consumption of goods

The 44 commitments set out by the retailers (24 of the total

number) for the year 2016 and beyond address these impacts

indirectly by means of actions aimed at influencing consumersrsquo

behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

support consumers and to boost circular economy in

this key area such as the implementation of awareness

campaigns the use of more trustworthy labels and

green claims the extension of products lifetime

through reuse and repair

Current REAP commitments

Currently 15 out of 21 retailers are active in this area

with different topics depending on the subject on

which they aim to influence consumers Nearly half of

the commitments contribute to general environmental

topics through initiatives aiming at raising customersrsquo

awareness followed by nearly a third related to waste

management Also sustainable products reusable bags

and the phasing-off of single use carrier bags play a

considerable role

Additional initiatives

Examples of additional activities reported by the REAP

members include the development of a dedicated app

for smartphones aimed at raising awareness on the

carbon emissions related to the consumersrsquo grocery

shopping and the development of a special bycicle for

the collection of litter during events Choice editing is

often performed in a indirect way by raising the bar on

the existing targets on sustainable sourcing

Future developments

Even if the awareness raising activities will be

continued no specific topics have emerged as

particular focus for the future Choice editing has a key

role but is considered challenging in some cases the

retailers need in fact to combine the protection of the

environment with the satisfaction of the customers

which might not be always aligned

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (48) where

progress data were provided (33 of 44) have

been already achieved by end of 2016

Figure 4 Contribution of reported REAP commitments 2016 to

consumer behaviour sub-topics (incl food waste)

7

2 2

2

2

9

28

48

Bags

Circular economy

Climate change

GHG emissions

Seafood

Sustainable products

Waste

Environment (general)

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 12: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

6 REAP REPORT 2017

4Food Waste is a relevant topic with regard to waste management and

one of the priority areas in the context of the circular economy For this

reason further information regarding this topic is given at page XXXX

END-OF-LIFE Waste and especially food waste

4 is among the most significant

environmental hotspots related to the end-of-life of products This

life cycle phase is addressed by the retailers through 27

commitments of which 15 addressing the topic ldquoFood wasterdquo and

12 addressing ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo It has to be noted

that the actual number of commitments on this phase is slightly

higher if the commitments on the topic ldquowasterdquo which have been

classified under the consumption phase were considered because

they contained initiatives aimed at influencing the consumersrsquo

behaviour on this topic

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different actions to

address the waste topic which vary from the need of

increasing the recycling rates the improvement of

collection and sorting systems and infrastructure to the

reduction of landfilling and incineration which should

be substituted by waste-to-energy treatments

Current REAP commitments

Currently 10 out of 21 retailers are active in the field of

reuse and recycling of waste Examples of

commitments include actions aimed at improving the

waste sorting and management in the stores staff

training return and take-back schemes for different

consumer goods particularly for textile and electrical

appliances

Additional initiatives

Waste sorting and recycling at the store is a

widespread practice among the REAP signatories The

employees are trained on the topic by means of

dedicated guides and training courses Many retailers

provide waste container for the customers also with

regard to small electronic devices and other

specialhazardous waste (batteries light bulbs etc)

Future developments

Plastic waste sorting and recycling is one of the focal

points for the retailers sometimes challenging giving

the high range of plastic types Initiatives and studies in

order to improve sorting and recycling will be

performed by many REAP members in the upcoming

years

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Nearly half of the targets (45) have been

achieved by end of 2016 in this life cycle phase

60 of the commitments with regard to the

topic ldquoFood Wasterdquo and nearly one third (29)

of the commitments under the topic ldquoReuse and

recycling of wasterdquo have been accomplished by

the end of 2016

Figure 5 Contribution of reported commitments to waste

management sub-topics (excl food waste)

25

17

41

17

Return system

Waste recovery

Waste recycling

Waste reduction

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 13: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 7

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRIORITY AREAS A number of sectors face specific challenges in the context of the circular economy which need to be addressed in a

targeted way in order to support an efficient interaction between the various phases of the cycle

PLASTICS

Some of the most important measures suggested by

the EU CE Action Plan in order to address this topic are

increasing recyclability and biodegradability of plastics

eliminate hazardous chemical additives and improve

eco-design

Currently 12 out of 21 retailers have reported to REAP

16 commitments in this field Measures regard weight

and volume reduction use of sustainable materials the

phasing out of single use plastic bags optimization of

own brand plastic packaging and the organization of

information campaign for customers and employees

Additional initiatives

Initiatives aimed at eliminating microplastics from

cosmetic and hygiene products are currently being

implemented

Future developments

Enhancing the effectiveness of plastic waste sorting is

considered by the REAP retailers as a key commitment

which should be pursued both on an internal (retailer)

and external (customers) level The many different

types of plastic available today and the different local

recycling policies make this target crucial and

challenging at the same time Collaborations between

the retailers and the local authorities on this area are

already in place and will be further developed in the

future

Figure 6 Contribution of REAP commitments to priority area ldquoPlasticsrdquo

(considering all four life cycle phases)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

32

6

31

31

Recycling of plastics

Plastics free from

hazardous chemical

additives

Reduction of

shopping bags

Plastic (packaging)

eco-design

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 14: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

8 REAP REPORT 2017

20

5

10

40

25

Food donation

In-store farming

Byproducts and not

saleable products

useWaste reduction

Communication

FOOD WASTE

Food waste is a topic of increasing concern at a global

level From the environmental point of view the

generation of food waste carries the burden not only

of the environmental impacts caused by food disposal

but also the ones related to the production

distribution and storage

The EU CE Action Plan suggests different measures to

address this topic such as to increase food donation to

prevent food waste along the value chain and change

behaviours through awareness campaigns and the

dissemination of good practices to maximize the

contribution of actors in the food supply chain and

improve the use of date marking and its understanding

by consumers

Currently 11 out of 21 retailers are active with 20

commitments in this field including actions on waste

prevention and reduction along the supply chain as

well as communication activities Implemented

measures include also the preparation of pet food

from food by-products and of ready-for-use meals

from vegetables not suitable for selling the adoption

of food packaging able to keep products fresh for

longer time the adoption of software for purchasing

demand-driven quantities of food consumers

campaigns

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives currently implemented include

dedicating specific store areas and apply a discount to

the products approaching the expire date provide

training and raising awareness initiatives for the staff

distribute labels which help the customers to better

store vegetables As an ldquoend-of-liferdquo measure the

methanization of food waste is also being

implemented

Future developments

If the reduction of food waste is the today retailersrsquo

focus the prevention appears to be the tomorrowrsquos

one Providing bulk products and selling smaller

portions are some of the initiatives which will help

pursuing this target On the other hand providing

smaller portions has a drawback on the packaging

which needs to be properly addressed

Figure 7 Contribution of REAP commitments to food waste sub-topics

(considering also communication)

REAP commitmentsrsquo progress update

Available progress data (13 out of 16) shows that 8

commitments have been already achieved (50)

In particular the single commitment with target

year 2016 for which progress data were received

has been achieved together with the commitment

with target year 2017 all the ldquoongoingrdquo

commitments and one commitment with target

year beyond 2018

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 15: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 9

CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are defined as critical when they present

a high economic importance for the EU and at the

same time a risk of a disruption in the EU supply

Critical raw materials are often present in electronic

devices The measures suggested by the EU CE Action

Plan to address this topic are to improve the

recyclability of electronic devices by better product

design and to perform a high quality recycling of these

devices in order to be able to extract and recycle the

raw materials

Currently 3 retailers have reported commitments in this

field with regard to the collection of WEEE from the

customers (without any further purchase obligation)

and the substitution of the dielectric fluid in storersquos

transformers All the 3 commitments have been

already achieved

Additional initiatives

The collection of WEEE is promoted at the store by

many REAP members which provide special containers

where the customers can dispose of small devices

Future developments

In the future further actions might focus on improving

product design through cooperation with producers

suppliers and other stakeholders and on increasing

recycling of electronic devices through return- and

take-back systems and active consumersrsquo involvement

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION

Waste from construction and demolition processes is

produced in very high quantities and often contain

valuable materials which are not always recovered

The EU CE Action Plan suggests to encourage design

improvements which will increase durability and

recyclability of buildingsrsquo components and to improve

the collection and recycling of the materials after the

demolition

Currently no retailers have set out commitments in this

field mostly because the retailer sector has just

marginally an overlap with the construction sector

Hence only limited actions can be applied for instance

when new stores are built

Additional initiatives

The exchange with the retailers showed that activities

on this topic are already in place such as the reuse of

material from demolition and excavation as filling

material in other retailerrsquos construction works In

addition some REAP members have committed to

achieve a LEED or BREEAM certification for their new

buildings which already include specific requirements

on this topic

Future developments

The topic ldquoConstruction and demolitionrdquo as already

mentioned affects only partially the retail sector The

REAP signatories even if aware of the topicrsquos

relevance do not consider it at as a priority

BIOMASS AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS

Biomass and bio-based products play an important

role in a circular economy since they are a renewable

biodegradable and compostable alternative to fossil-

based products and energy Their use should be

promoted and increased by intensifying the use of

biofuels with regard to the transport of goods and by

improving the cooperation with the producers aiming

at increasing the use of renewable material in the

production processes

Currently 3 out of 21 retailers are active with 3

commitments in this field regarding the use of

alternative transport biofuels derived from bio and

food waste and the production of biodegradable and

compostable shopping bags One of the commitments

has already been achieved

Additional initiatives

Additional initiatives on this topic include for example

the development of grocery bags and gloves made of

a bio-based biodegradable material and the

production of milk cartons made entirely of bio-based

materials including the cap

Future developments

Future developments in this area might regard the

increase of the use of biofuels for the logistic

operations as well as the diffusion of compostable

grocery bags

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 16: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

10 REAP REPORT 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY REAP MEMBERS

The following pages include for each REAP signatory who set out commitments during the first

two years of the current REAP cycle (2016 and 2017) the current status of the REAP

commitments a short description of other interesting initiatives implemented future trends and

developments In addition for ten retailers also a summary of the commitments verified during

the store visit is provided The detailed list of REAP commitments with progress status and the

full store visits reports are included in the Annex

Analysis of commitments

Overview of the current commitments and

progress update

Other interesting initiatives

Selection of other interesting activities

implemented by the retailers but not currently

included in the REAP commitments

Future developments

Future targets or planned initiatives

Summary of store visit and commitments verified

Ten store visits were performed during year 2017

in order to carry out an exemplary snap-shot

verification of targets giving also the retailers the

opportunity to highlight particular achievements

made in the visited stores The retailersrsquo selection

has been based on the verifiability in store and the

target years of the commitments (2016 2017 or

ongoing) Other store visits will be performed in

the course of next year with the aim of

completing a full round of store visits before the

end of the current REAP cycle

Note For the REAP signatories Eroski Tesco and The

Co-operative no individual paragraph is available due

to the lack of information and data provided on the

current commitments additional initiatives and future

developments

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 17: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 11

AHOLD DELHAIZE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Production Commitments Sustainable Sourcing of

Healthy and Sustainable Products

In order to secure sustainability of the global supply

chains 100 of seven critical commodities in Ahold

Delhaizersquos own-brand products will meet industry

recognized sustainability standards by 2020 These

commodities are cocoa coffee palm oil seafood

South American soy tea and wood fibers Ahold

Delhaizersquos own brand products that contain sustainably

sourced ingredients will have the appropriate

sustainability logo in order to engage and

communicate the retailerrsquos sustainability commitments

to its consumers

Distribution Logistics Retail place Commitments

Emissions and alternative energy - GHG emissions

Ahold Delhaize will continue decreasing the carbon

footprint of its facilities (stores warehouses and

offices) by utilizing the latest building materials and

technology monitoring usage of energy and

refrigerants and installing energy efficient

technologies Ahold Delhaize is aiming to decrease

energy (electricity and all on site fuels) consumption

per sales area control refrigerant leakages and

gradually move towards natural refrigerants and more

eco friendly transportation

Consumption Commitments Influencing Consumer

Behavior Through Reporting

Ahold Delhaize will report annually on progress

towards sustainability targets through its Annual

Report and also to external parties such as CDP

End-of-life Commitments Food waste reduction amp

Waste Recycling

Ahold Delhaize will reduce food waste by driving

down food waste in its own operations by 20 by

2020 (from its 2016 baseline) maximizing the recovery

of unsold food to reduce hunger in its communities

working with its suppliers on innovations to reduce

food waste upstream and helping customers reduce

food waste at home Ahold Delhaize will recycle 80

of its total waste by 2020 diverting it from landfills and

incinerators

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Instock is a restaurant foundation supported by Ahold

Delhaize with the mission to reduce food waste and

increase awareness Products that would otherwise

remain unsold are used to prepare fresh and delicious

food The goal is to showcase the value of food in

several ways through a high quality dining experience

in one of the three restaurants offering master classes

and through selling a variety of food and beverage

products and Ahold Delhaizersquos cook book Instock

Cooking

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Ahold Delhaize and its brands have the potential to

have a more positive impact than ever before for its

customers associates communities and suppliers

Ahold Delhaize takes this responsibility seriously and

has embedded it into its Sustainable Retailing

roadmap shaped by the UN Global Compact and

Sustainable Development Goals Ahold Delhaize wants

to ensure its products are safe to consume and

sustainably sourced so its operations have minimal

impact on the environment Future commitments and

developments will remain on Ahold Delhaizersquos three

global focus areas of healthy eating food waste and

healthy and inclusive workplaces as well as five

essential areas of product safety and sustainability

climate impact local community connection associate

development and safety at work

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 18: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

12 REAP REPORT 2017

APED

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

APED is an association of retailers meaning that APED

can suggest measures to be applied by but not

impose decisions to retailers The main core of APED is

to enhance dialogues and communication among

retailers and to certain extent to influence decisions of

retailers for what concerns environmental protection

APEDrsquos commitments address two life cycle phases the

Consumption (with three commitments) and End-of-

life (one commitment) No commitments have been set

out as regards the production distribution logistics

and retail place phases and all the commitments are

classified as communication initiatives

The APEDacutes guide-book on environmental best

practices has been published in July 2017 The book is

related to EU and Portuguese regulations and has the

aim to raise awareness and inspire member companies

with best practices The book addresses topics related

to production such as eco design evaluation of life

cycle analysis collaboration throughout the supply

chain and the promotion of sustainable products in the

store shelves This book wants especially to

recommend measures to those retailers still lagging

behind and with less experience or lacking the know-

how on the implementation of sustainable practices It

provides a selection of best- practices on labelling and

offers also self- check tool retailers can use to assess

their performance Best practices and guidance on

efficient transport energy and refrigerant gases are

also provided It can be therefore argued that APED

commitments address many environmental topics

related to production from sustainable sourcing to

better agricultural practices including water and

pesticides use to increase reuse and recyclability

through design (for instance of packaging) but in an

indirect way

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

APED is currently running a project on energy efficient

appliances in retailer stores which is running under a

major financing program from the Portuguese energy

services regulatory authority Retailers can present a

project to APED to receive funds which has to be used

to improve the efficiency of the technical equipment in

the stores

APED also performed an information campaign on

correct practices for consumers to dispose correctly

cooking oil which often gets discharged into kitchen

sink with huge environmental impacts especially on

groundwater

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In general there are ongoing discussion on future

topics to be included in the focus of APED but it is not

possible to draft conclusions at the moment The main

activity of APED will anyway remain dissemination

In addition APED has a strong interest in following the

debate on circular economy and in involving other

retailers in the dialogues They will see how it evolves

at the EU level before proceeding at the national level

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 19: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 13

5Auchan first reported its commitments regarding Auchan Group and

Auchan France for 2016 in July 2017 Therefore only the actual

environmentalsustainability strategy of Auchan have been considered

The methanization unit in Haimen store in China

The Ecobox in place in Auchan Retail France stores in

order to recycle plastic bottles of our clients

AUCHAN

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS5

Auchan Retail has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging energy efficiency water

consumer behaviour food waste and waste recycling

In addition all five Circular Economy Priority Areas

(Plastics Food Waste Critical raw materials

Construction and demolition Biomass and bio-based

products) in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

are considered

Increasing sustainable and local sourced products is a

main topic and is focusing amongst others on fish

palm oil wood cotton cosmetics and local sourcing

Several measures are already implemented regarding

packaging (eg eco-design for bottles optimization of

packaging to increase transport efficiency) As regards

energy efficiency initiatives to reduce storesrsquo energy

consumption regarding refrigeration lighting and

heatair conditioning are carried out Auchan Retail is

already applying a sustainable water management (eg

rainwater catchment tanks and basins water-efficient

equipment evaluation of consumption data) Auchan

Retailrsquos measures in the consumption concern raising

awareness information campaigns and also activities

with direct involvement of customers To combat food

waste Auchan Retail stores apply a series of measures

to reduce the number of binned items like optimising

the choice of product ranges the improvement of

ware housing in stores the display of items with short

best-before dates and

finally food donation In

addition Auchan Retail

is working continuously

to improve waste

sorting and to

cooperate with well

organised local partners

regarding treatment

Nevertheless it could

be taken into

consideration to support the topic ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo by further measures and

address more actively the substitution of synthetic

products with bio-based ones (eg biofuels

bioplastics)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Currently Auchan Retail is working on a pilot project

regarding the methanization of food waste in France

and China Approx 5 of the energy consumption of

the store can be covered by applying this concept In

addition Auchan Retail is developing an internal ldquoBest

Practice-Bookrdquo in order to collect useful measures to

prevent food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Considerations to measure in future the water foot

print of textiles are currently done Furthermore life

cycle phases will be studied by relevant product

categories to determine Auchanrsquos main impact and

goals to be achieved As regards emissions an

indicator for CO2 emissions linked to logistics supply

will be defined by 2020 and calculated for all Auchan

Retailrsquos countries Concerning critical raw material

Auchan Retail is now focusing on a responsibility

scheme for own-brand non-food-products in order to

guarantee their reparability and to ensure that

customers can return broken products and get back a

repaired one instead of being wasted

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 20: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

14 REAP REPORT 2017

CARREFOUR

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Carrefourrsquos 15 commitments address all the four life

cycle phases with particular focus on the distribution

logistics retail place phase (which counts 7

commitments) followed by the production and

consumption phases (with 3 commitments each) and

the end-of-life phase (2 commitments) Carrefour is

focusing mainly on both (i) promoting initiatives aiming

at increasing the sustainability of own brand products

and at preventing food waste and (ii) extending the

sustainable transport concept (optimization of supply

chain and setting up of further biomethane charging

stations) No commitments and activities have been set

out so far regarding the topics ldquoIncrease reuse and

recyclability through designrdquo and ldquoWater 2 of

Carrefourrsquos commitments address the five Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

promoting the sorting of different types of plastic)

food waste (by reducing organic waste) and critical raw

materials (by promoting the collection of WEEE)

As regards the sustainability of own brand products

the number of products of Carrefour Quality Lines

raised by 45 and the sales of organic products

increased by 322 in 2016

In France Carrefour (with Tex Bio brand) is the first

organic cotton seller with a turnover of 41 million

euros in 2016 Since 2010 the Group has been

working towards a goal of zero deforestation by 2020

and with that in mind has developed sustainably

managed supply chains for soya palm oil wood and

paper products and beef

To combat food waste numerous steps have been set

at store level and with regard to cooperation with

suppliers and customers Concerning sustainable

transport Carrefour intends to reduce its CO2

emissions linked to transport by 30 by 2025

To accomplish this the Group is further working on its

logistics models in order to reduce the distances

between warehouses and stores to optimise lorry

loading rates and to encourage the use of return

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable sourcing

Increase annual sales of products

from Carrefour Quality Lines and

organic agriculture

Increase annual sales of Tex Bio

and maintain a 100 Carrefour

private label ldquoTex Biordquo organic

cotton certified OEKOTEX

ldquoZero deforestationrdquo

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce transport-related CO2

emissions (per pallet)

Increase the share of renewable

energies in the energy

consumption

Alternative fuel in Transports

Reduce energy consumption per

sqm of sales area

Reduce CO2 emissions generated

by coolant production

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Customer Waste Collection

Encourage waste sorting

End-of-life - food

waste Reduce the organic waste

Other interesting

initiatives

Carrefourrsquos roof garden

Promote bulk sales of dry

products

Promoting sustainable fishing

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown (ie

waste sorting at store) but were instead explained The store

visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Carrefour were accurately shown and explained

Additionally interesting new projects like the roof garden to

preserve biodiversity were presented Carrefour is focusing on

both (i) promoting initiatives aiming at increasing the

sustainability of own brand products and at preventing food

waste and (ii) extending the sustainable transport concept

(optimization of supply chain and setting up of further

biomethane charging stations)

journeys with suppliers Furthermore the Group is also

seeking to develop alternatives to the use of diesel by

employing hybrid vehicles and deploying a fleet of

lorries running on biomethane in France

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 21: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 15

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As of 2017 locally grown plant protein as an

alternative to imported soy will be used to feed pigs of

Carrefour Quality Line marketed by Carrefour France

After successful implementation the Group wants to

establish the same approach in other countries To

reduce shopping trips of the consumer to supermarket

by car Carrefour tested in one region of France a

service-application in order to support customerrsquos car-

sharing In France and also in other countries a special

campaign called ldquosustainable weekrdquo is carried out each

year to promote environmental issues Concerning

water

consuming products special communication is done

directly in the stores As regards CampD waste Carrefour

has implemented the ldquoCharte Chantier Vertrdquo with the

aim to take better account of the environment in the

construction of buildings As regards Biomass and bio-

based products Carrefour has changed the material of

plastic bags used to sell fruit and vegetables

Compostable bio-based plastic bags are already used

in France and Poland

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Carrefour has a strong commitment on sustainable

agriculture and will continue the work on further pilot

projects and on being a forerunner on the food retail

market In partnership with suppliers and producers a

tracking tool for brazil beef will be developed in a first

step in order to guarantee that this beef is from zero-

deforestation

Furthermore Carrefour is developing a ldquomobility

programmerdquo for the whole Group including the

reinforcement of e-cars and customerrsquos transportation

of goods from outlet to household

Concerning food waste Carrefour is currently engaged

to measure how much food waste is included in storersquos

residual waste targeting on finding solutions for a

more improved waste sorting and in order to increase

recycling

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 22: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

16 REAP REPORT 2017

COLRUYT

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Colruyt set out 14 commitments mostly focused on

ldquoDistribution logistics retail placerdquo but which address

also the Production the Consumption and the End-of-

life phases The most relevant topics amongst the

commitments are ldquoRenewable energyrdquo followed by

rdquoRefrigerantsrdquo ldquoWaste Reductionrdquo and ldquoWasterdquo As

regards the subject sustainable sourcing the

commitment to buy certificates for over 30000 tonnes

of soy non-segregated to cover the consumption

according to the amount of meat sold with target year

2016 is currently on the right track in July 2017

already 28000 tonnes have been reached Good

results have been achieved also with regard to the

target of having 100 of the palm oil used in own

products to be RSPO certified (segregated) by 2018 at

the end of 2016 already 845 of the palm oil was

certified RSPO Colruyt is reporting good results also

on its carbon footprint reduction plan the goal is to

reduce the Scope 1 amp 2 carbon footprint with 20

between 2008 and 2020 in a relative way primarily

focusing on cooling heating and transport which give

the biggest contribution on the retailerrsquos footprint

Furthermore the commitment to reach a recycling rate

of 80 in 2017 has been achieved

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Colruyt has being testing the CHAIN OEF approach on

different product groups in particular on diapers

Starting from the testrsquos results a new thinner diaper

has been developed which has a reduced

environmental impact due to the less material used

and the reduced space needed for the transport In

January 2017 Colruyt launched the first recyclable

cardboard container for cold meat cuts with 55

smaller impact on climate change over its entire

lifecycle The composite container consists of 90 FSC-

certified paper fibres and of a thin film applied on the

inside and can be thrown out with the rest of the

paper waste Because of its smaller size it also reduces

the amount of transport and necessary storage room

Street litter is one of Colruytrsquos current main focuses In

order to address this issue a special electric delivery

bicycle called the Recycle has been developed by the

retailer The Recyle has containers for PMD6 residual

waste and glass and can be borrowed for free from

anyone whorsquos organising an event to keep it litter-free

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Colruyt is currently assessing the possibility to test the

CHAIN OEF approach used for the diapers also on

other different product categories (eg meat) in order

to implement targeted impact reduction strategies

Moreover Colruyt keeps on working on the production

of hydrogen and the extension of the number of

hydrogen-fuelled pallet jacks In addition to the

hydrogen-fuelled passenger car already owned by the

retailer the purchase of additional ones is planned for

the next years At the end of 2017 Colruyt will also start

a project for the realization of a new hydrogen station

for the public Eventually a new strategy on packaging

is planned to be soon released

6PMD refers to recyclable waste including plastic metals and drinking

cartons

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 23: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 17

COOP (ITALY)

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Coop in Italy has set out 13 commitments which have a

particular focus on the Production the Distribution

logistics and retail place and the End-of-life life cycle

phases Most of the commitments are currently in

progress being the target year ongoing 2017 or

beyond The project ldquoCoop beyond Kyotordquo with the

aim of working with the suppliers for reducing their

GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency has

continued also in 2016 During the 2015 317 suppliers

were involved in the project with a water saving equal

to 5 milions m3 and the reduction of packaging

materials 4845 t paper 2272 t of plastic 210 t of

glass 610 t of other materials These initiatives allowed

saving more than 213 milions t of CO2 emissions due

to energy and gas consumption reduction and a

donation of 50000 t of productsfood for charity

As well as the initiative on decreasing packaging waste

by applying the 3R strategy In year 2016 210 own

brand products were involved in the project with a

total packaging material saving equal to 4200 t and

the substitution of 2100 t packaging material with

recycled material (cellulose and plastic) These

initiatives allowed saving 7300 t of CO2 emissions in

2016 In the framework of the CommONEnergy

project Coop achieved its commitment of obtaining a

building (the Canaletto store in Modena Italy) with low

environmental impact and high energy saving

adopting technologies for decreasing energy

consumption increasing the amount of renewable

energy production and increasing sustainable lighting

In 2016 it also relamped 450 stores with exclusive use

of LED technology In 2016 Coop counted 23 FSC-

certified references (paper tissues napkins) and 10

PEFC-certified references (diapers)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Increase the amounts of eco-

friendly products

Increase the amounts of products

with FSC or similar certification

Increase the amount of products

not GMOs

Production ndash

increase reuse

recyclability through

design

Increase the number of products

following the 3R policy

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

To realize a building with a low

environmental impact and high

energy saving (CommONEnergy

project)

To relamp old buildings and

realize all the new stores with only

LED lights for a total of 450 stores

in 2016

Increase the number of suppliers

involved in the project COOP

OLTRE KYOTO promoted by

Coop Italia which has the aim of

working with the suppliers for

reducing their GHG emissions and

increasing energy efficiency

End-of-life ndash reuse

and recycling of

waste

Increase application on labels of

Private Label products of a

dedicated space to provide

information on separate waste

collection

End-of-life ndashFood

waste

PROJECT ldquoBUON FINErdquo ndash

AVOIDING FOOD WASTE ANCC-

Coop for the next 3 years will

increase by 20 the stores

involved in the project for the

reduction of food waste which

aims to recover still edible unsold

food products and donate them

to charities and people in need

Other interesting

initiatives

Closed refrigerators and heat

reuse

Carrier bags

Local products

New store model Ipercoop

Formigine

Conclusions

All the selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified and additional written information

regarding the two visited stores has been provided The

programme of the day was well prepared and all the

initiatives and specific store features were accurately

explained by the persons involved in the visit Coop in Italy

confirms its commitment on continuously increase the

sustainability of its products and is putting more and more

efforts on the reduction of the impacts related to the stores

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 24: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

18 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards the topic ldquomeatrdquo a project on progressively

reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock farming was

launched in April 2017 with the direct involvement of

the poultry sectorrsquos suppliers first Furthermore Cooprsquos

own brand beef and veal meat is provided with the

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In order to promote the separation and recycling of

waste at the store Coop has developed and

distributed a dedicated Guide which provides

information on how to correctly separate waste at the

shop with rules and requirements for waste managers

and practical information for the employees

Coop provides the customers with bags made of

ldquomater-birdquo a biodegradable and compostable

bioplastic The Unicoop Firenze moreover has

developed and offers the customers also grocery bags

and gloves made of this material

As part of the Cooprsquos commitment against food waste

an increasing number of stores select fresh packaged

and even loose products close to the expiration date

and propose them with special labels in refrigerated

counters dedicated to members and customers at

heavily discounted prices (project Mangiami Subito Eat

me Immediately) Moreover further extraordinary

offers are increasingly being offered in the evening

near the closing hour on the products of the day

worked in the bakery and gastronomy departments

(project Happy Hour)

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2017 Coop will be presenting 2 projects

against food waste in cooperation with national

institutions universities and volunteer associations

- the LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE (White book about the food waste)

- a web community Coopnospreco

(Coopnofoodwaste)

The LIBRO BIANCO COOP SULLO SPRECO

ALIMENTARE is the most completed and updated

analysis of food donations for solidarity purposes and a

complete and in-depth quantitative and qualitative

analysis conducted on the phenomenon of production

and destination of food surpluses

The WEB COMMUNITY COOPNOSPRECO accessible

both through a website (wwwcoopnosprecoit) and a

dedicated application aims at informing and

supporting consumers volunteer associations schools

local institutions and businesses in implementing

prevention reduction reuse and recycling of surpluses

and food waste

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 25: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 19

A few new products from Coop Aumlnglamark organic line launched in

2016 and the Coop ldquoVeggie Dayrdquo redbeet-burger

COOP NORWAY

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Coop Norway set out 2

commitments addressing two of the four life cycle

phases namely the production phase (sustainable

sourcing) and the retail place (emissions and

(alternative) energy) No commitments have been

reported regarding the Consumption and End-of-life

phases Increasing sustainable and local sourced

products is a main topic and is focusing amongst

others on fish palm oil wood GMO-free food and

feed and on organic vegetarian and eco-labelled

products With its own brand ldquoCoop Aumlnglamarkrdquo Coop

Norway supports strongly the sale of organic-grown

products In total more than 700 products in all

product categories (pasta meat milk etc) have been

offered in 2016 at Coop stores and sales increased by

46 compared to 2015 Alternatively to meat Coop

has launched the private label vegetarian product line

- Coop Veggie Day A series of initiatives have been

taken to reduce energy consumption eg the

prolonged energy program ldquoE-kuttrdquo energy saving

measures regarding cooling heating ventilation and

lightning demand-based energy management at

store-level and consumption monitoring The five

Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste

Critical raw materials Construction and demolition

Biomass and bio-based products) are not directly

addressed by Coop Norwayrsquos commitments but several

measures focusing on the priority area plastics (eg by

being a member of the Nordic Program on

packaging) food waste (eg by establishing an internal

zero-vision of food waste) biomass and biobased

products (eg milk cartons are made of 100

biobased material) and critical raw materials (by taking

back electronical devices and ensuring appropriate

recycling) are already implemented

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

As regards increase reuse and recyclability through

design Coop Norway takes a lot of attention on

packaging and plastic bags Regarding packaging a

few initiatives are already implemented like paper bag

for spaghetti or tetrapack for tomato sauce Coop

Norway is further working on reducing packaging by

product design and will reinforce cooperation with

suppliersproducers Currently a pilot projectconcept

for assessing challenges and obstacles of stand-alone

energy systems is done ndash specifically using

photovoltaic power and battery storage in stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Coop Norway will working towards a more sustainable

soy policy besides the already established GMO-free

policy Furthermore the sales of vegetarian products

by developing a private brand vegetarian line should

be increased As regards packaging Coop Norway is

currently working (initial phase) on the ldquoNordic

Program on packagingrdquo with other partners targeting

on reducing weight of packaging using renewable raw

materials improved recyclability and sustainable usage

of plastic Regarding transport Coop Norway will work

on the substitution of fuel by using alternatives and on

further optimization of its supply chain Concerning

retail place Coop Norway is currently implementing a

pilot projectconcept ldquoWood storesrdquo for assessing

environmental and economic effects of using wood as

building material which should be continued for further

stores Increasing customerrsquos awareness on food waste

especially on the topic meat will be continued through

communication at store level on productrsquos packaging

and also via online channels

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 26: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

20 REAP REPORT 2017

EL CORTE INGLEacuteS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes set out 11 commitments which address

in particular the Production and Consumption life cycle

phases The Distribution logistics and retail place

phase is addressed by one commitment though

including a number of different measures to be

implemented in order to reach the defined target The

End-of-life phase is addressed by means of one

commitment on food waste and one related to waste

recovery Four of the commitments have already been

achieved The Sustainability month is one of the most

important initiatives of customer engagement during

which El Corte Ingleacutes presents employees and clients

different sustainable measures El Corte Ingleacutes also

published a number of brochure and magazines

containing information regarding organicecological

products available at the supermarket and providing

every-day life sustainability tips for the customers As

regards food waste in 2016 3 more stores in

comparison with the previous year have donated food

to food bankssoup kitchens the amount of food

donated being increased by 516 from 2015 to 2016

Also the amount of WEEE collected has increased

+550 in 2016 compared with the previous year The

number of certified fish references wood products and

organic products has increased as well and El Corte

Ingleacutes is on the right track to reach its targets by the

end of 2017 The same applies to the commitment of

improving energy efficiency in May 2016 (from 2008)

a reduction of around 16 in the energy consumption

per square meter was registered Eventually El Corte

Ingleacutes achieved (in 2016 from 2008) a reduction of

74 in the number of single use bags sold in the

stores

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

El Corte Ingles is engaged in a demonstrative project

whose title is Use of expanded polystyrene fish boxes

to manufacture a new polystyrene food contact

application The objective is to recollect the expanded

polystyrene of the fish packaging to treat it in order to

eliminate the odour producing molecules and to

produce

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

sustainable

sourcing

Increase by 4 the number of

certified fish references

Increase by 35 the number of

certified wood products

Increase by 35 the number of

organic products

Distribution

logistics retail

place - emissions

and (alternative)

energy

Promoting general systems

improvement focusing on energy

efficiency and emissions reduction

Consumption -

influencing

customers

behaviour

Offering our customers different

models of reusable bags in our

supermarkets

Raise environmental awareness of

our employees and customers and

inform them on environmental

practices within the Company

(Sustainability month in El Corte

Ingleacutes)

Direct customers towards the choice

of ecological products by publication

of brochures on high ecological

value supermarket products

End-of-life - food

waste

Reducing the food waste in stores by

increasing the donations of food in

stores

End-of-life - reuse

amp recycling of

waste

New waste containers to increase

recovery rate of waste - increase the

collection of waste (kg of small

WEEE)

General Participating in projects of circular

economy in our products

Conclusions

All the commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified in store and at the central offices and detailed

and exhaustive documentation has been provided The store

visit was well prepared and all the sustainable initiatives were

accurately explained by the different El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos

responsible persons involved in the visit El Corte Ingleacutesrsquos is

continuing to make efforts in order to increase the level of

sustainability and is supporting the development of a more

circular economy with innovative projects

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 27: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 21

a polystyrene adapt for food contact The resulting

application will be offered to El Corte Ingleacutes own brand

suppliers for use in their products

El Corte Ingleacutes has started collaborating with Tesla and

other partners for providing charging stations for

electric-vehicles in the stores This action will be

continued and extended in the next years

In 2017 the project Textile recycled collection has

been launched which aims at collaborating with the

suppliers for the introduction of recycled material in

their products The initiative consists in the collection of

used denim from customers which is then recycled

and reused in the production process for each bag of

used denim the customers receive a discount ticket for

a next purchase

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

El Corte Ingleacutes will continue to work in order to achieve

its sustainability targets In particular it will continue

working on the project for the development of an

alternative and more sustainable fish box and on the

textile recycled collection project As regards waste it

commits to increase the number of shops which make

donations to soup kitchens and to increase the

collection of waste in the shops by providing the

necessary containers

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 28: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

22 REAP REPORT 2017

ICA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

ICArsquos 15 commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the production phase

(which counts 8 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the consumption

phases (with 3 commitments each) while the End-of-

life phase counts only one commitment on food waste

The commitments address mainly sustainable sourcing

and products packaging CO2 emissions and

alternative energy and sustainable consumer

behaviour 3 commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to plastic (by

phasing out hazardous chemicals from packaging

material and increasing use of renewable plastics)

food waste (reducing food waste) and also biomass

and bio-based products (bags and packaging made of

renewable plastics) No measures have been set so far

with regard to the topics ldquowaterrdquo and ldquoreuse and

recycling of wasterdquo

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to

increase the sustainability of own brand products (also

with regard to consumer packaging solutions) ICA

Swedenrsquos main product range included more than

3200 organic products (also for meat and dairy

products) in 2016

As regards sustainable consumer packaging solutions

ICA is at this moment developing a long term

packaging guidance targeting on renewable

recyclable re-useable and re-closable solutions In

addition ICA in co-operation with suppliers is currently

working on the development of a product using re-

cycled raw materials

Concerning emissions and energy ICA wants to be

climate neutral by 2020 which will be realized by

optimising energy consumption refrigerants in stores

and transport

As regards Food waste numerous steps to combat it

have been set at store level and in cooperation with

suppliers customers social organisations and other

stakeholders For example Food waste becomes fish in

a circular system by using food waste from ICArsquos

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

Extend the range and the number

of eco-labelled products (FSC

MSC ASC The Nordic Eco-label

EU Eco-label Good

Environmental Choice etc)

Increase sustainable palm oil in

our private brand products

Increase assortment on

sustainable products

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Increase the range and number of

sustainable consumer packaging

solutions for private label

Increase the sales of bags and

packaging made by renewable

plastics

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Enabling change in consumer

behaviour

Direct customers towards the

choice of sustainable products

Other interesting

initiatives

Reduction of energy consumption

at store level

Waste collection point for

customers

BPA-free food packaging and

products

Conclusions

All selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016 have

been verified and additional information regarding the other

activities which couldnrsquot be shown by a visit has been provided

ICA is focusing on numerous initiatives in order to increase the

sustainability of own brand products (also with regard to

consumer packaging solutions) and preventing food waste

Furthermore ICA is strongly working towards being climate-

neutral by 2020 by implementing different measures like

renewable energy for stores use of natural refrigerants and use

of renewable fuels and efficiency in goods transport An

important topic for ICA in the future is to further increase the

awareness raising of customers regarding sustainable products

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 29: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 23

production of organic potatoes as food for insects

which are then used as fish feed for instance for Arctic

char sold under ICArsquos private label Besides that ICA

increases continuously the number of eco-labelled

buildings

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

ICA is a member of the new Swedish Network

ldquoStockholm International Water Institute (Siwi)rdquo aiming

at providing suppliers with standardized tools in order

to save water during production and financing experts

for consulting on site As regards reuse and recycling

of waste ICA is supporting the independent stores

regarding their waste management eg regarding

efficient contracting with recycling companies

Furthermore public means of transport plays an

important role and ICA considers during planning of

new buildings the needs of all stakeholders and is in

strong contact with local authorities In addition ICA

Real Estate began work on a concept for charging

posts for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids As regards

critical raw materials ICA offers all customers to bring

back their electronical devices and its appropriate

recycling is ensured according to law

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

ICA will intensify their cooperation with

suppliersproducers supporting them to reduce the

climate impact of products considering also energy

issues In addition more attention will be paid on the

reusing of equipment through individual contracting

As regards home delivery by van ICA will develop

appropriate measures targeting eg on cars aiming as

low CO2 emissions as possible Increasing customerrsquos

awareness on energy reduction and on food waste will

be a main topic in the near future In particular the

discussions regarding ldquoFresh until at leastrdquo date should

be taken up again and work should be continued on

solutions for unexpected unsaleable products with high

volume in order to guarantee a further usage

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 30: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

24 REAP REPORT 2017

IKEA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

IKEArsquos 9 commitments have a particular focus on the

ldquoProductionrdquo and the ldquoDistribution logistics retail

placerdquo phases with ldquoEmissions and (alternative) energyrdquo

being the most tackled topic IKEA committed to reach

100 of renewable andor recycled material

(cardboard steel aluminium plastic wood) or

recyclable material in its home furnishing products and

is working on this topic in the framework of the

product sustainability scorecard (launched in 2010)

The commitment to reduce in 2016 the carbon

emissions from the transport of goods by 30

compared to FY12 is being pursued by means of many

activities such as vegetable oil-powered trucks in

Sweden diesel-hybrid vans for customersrsquo delivery in

Hamburg and hydrogen fuel cells in Lyon

Furthermore with the aim to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport of goods IKEA is strongly

promoting the e-commerce service As regards waste

IKEA pledged to reduce its waste from store operations

by 10 in 2020 A series of initiatives are currently in

place in order to reduce waste generation and to

increase the recycling rate such as the collection of

waste at the stores and a take back system for specific

productsmaterials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

On the 19th June 2017 IKEA has launched a new

initiative where the pre-consumer food waste is

weighed IKEA set out a specific new target regarding

food waste before 2020 it aims to halve food waste

and 90 of it should be recycled or turned into a

resource such as compost or biogas

In September 2017 IKEA Group joined EV100 a global

initiative bringing together companies committed to

driving the transition to electro-mobility EV100 sets

out four key influence areas on which commitments

can be taken fleets staff customers service providers

In every IKEA Group market each new IKEA building

(store shopping centre office and distribution centre)

shall be the most sustainable IKEA facility at that point

in time for this location In October 2017 IKEA Kaarst is

the first more sustainable store The ambition is for

every IKEA Group market to have a leading sustainable

IKEA store by 2022 to try out and learn about new

sustainability innovations

Eventually in order to increase its knowledge of the

recycling process IKEA has recently bought a minor

share in a plastic recycling plant in the Netherlands

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

IKEA has recently undergone an important

organisational change which saw it split into two

separate entities IKEA Group (Ingka Holding BV) and

Inter IKEA Group (Inter IKEA Holding BV) IKEArsquos

current REAP commitments will therefore be modified

in order to include only the activities under the

responsibility of IKEA Group

As regards sustainability IKEArsquos main focus will remain

the IWAY (code of conduct for suppliers) in order to

increase sustainability throughout the whole supply

chain IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy is being

updated and will be finalised by February 2018

The other main topics addressed by IKEA will be

sustainable cotton and wood since they are the most

used materials and initiatives will be implemented in

order to reduce food waste and increase food

sustainability

TOMAT spray bottle - made from wrap plastic from IKEA store operations

More sustainable store - IKEA Kaarst Germany

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 31: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 25

JEROacuteNIMO MARTINS

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

For the year 2016 and beyond Jeroacutenimo Martins (JM)

set out 10 commitments addressing all four life cycle

phases namely production distribution consumption

and end-of-life They tackled topics including

sustainable certificates palm oil supply chain

packaging energy efficiency water consumption

reduction raising awareness among consumers

reducing food waste and diverting waste from landfill

JMrsquos commitments have a particular focus on the

production phase and sustainable sourcing JMacutes

Sustainability standard for Private Brand and

Perishables target their Private Brand suppliers and

consider greenhouse gas emissions waste hazardous

substances and water and energy consumption In

addition JM conducts regular audits to its Private Brand

and Perishables suppliers which include a range of

areas such as quality and food safety labor issues and

environmental criteria In 2016 over 3200 audits were

carried out In parallel JM has recently finalized a

Sustainable Agriculture Manual for Perishables

Suppliers targeting their 1st and 2

nd level of suppliers

The goal is to provide suppliers with a self-assessment

tool that will enable them to identify areas of

improvement Suppliers will be regularly audited

against this reference allowing JM to map its producers

within a specified range of fruit and vegetables JM

commitments in the consumption phase concern

awareness raising and information campaigns The two

main topics addressed are waste prevention and

recycling As part of this initiative for instance the

collection in Pingo Doce stores of used coffee

capsules was launched in 2013 In 2016 more than

137 million coffee capsules were collected and

recycled into compost and other valuable materials

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

JM implemented initiatives in the area of distribution

and logistics The ldquoBackhauling Projectrdquo for instance

consists of routes optimization and load maximization

by collecti ng empty pallets as well as products from

suppliers on return trips from stores in b oth Portugal

and Poland In addition to financial gains in the last 6

years 382 million kilometers in trips and the emission

of 354 thousand tons of CO2 were avoided

Concerning actions to prevent food waste one on the

most relevant concerns the use of ugly fruit and

vegetables to prepare fresh meals Many of these

products are not collected from fields because they do

not respect aesthetic criteria (eg size shape etc) JM

uses them to prepare pre-cut ready-to-eat meals like

salads or soups So far 13000 tons have been

processed and saved from disposal In addition JM

committed to the Consumer Goods Forum Food

Waste Resolution The aim is to halve food losses and

waste by 2025 with baseline 2016 through the

promotion of food waste prevention practic es and

development of synergies among suppliers In

addition JM sends organic waste to composting

solutions In 2016 over 75000 tons were sent for

composting between Portugal and Poland

Refrigerants were not included among the REAP

commitments due to difficulties in alignment with the

programmersquos timeline (eg its scope goes beyond

2020) but actions in this regard have been already

initiated by JM as it has also committed to the

Consumer Goods Forum Refrigeration Resolution

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The focus of JM will remain on the variety of topics

already covered It will further enhance its packaging

eco-design project This initiative which counts on the

collaboration with JMrsquos suppliers aims at improving

Private Brandrsquos packaging eco-efficiency in order to

reduce its environmental impacts and optimize costs of

production transport and management of packaging

waste JM will also continue its work to achieve its Zero

Net Deforestation by 2020 goal as defined by the

Consumer Goods Forum as well as its sustainably

seafood strategy and the promotion of more

sustainable agricultural practices in the supply chain

Concerning landfilling efforts to reduce waste sent to

land fill will continue

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 32: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

26 REAP REPORT 2017

KAUFLAND

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Kauflandrsquos 8 commitments address the Production the

Distribution logistics retail place and the End-of-life

life cycle phases The commitment of banning toxic

chemical groups from the production of Kauflandacutes

private label textiles and own textile imports in the

framework of the Greenpeace Detox campaign is

currently in progress as of December 2016 following

the Detox commitment flame retardants and PFCs

were banned and other chemicals will be banned

gradually The target to have only certified sustainable

palm oil in all German private label products -

according to the guidelines of the German Forum for

Sustainable Palm Oil - has been achieved Kaufland is

currently working on the replacement of the internally

used copy paper with recycled one from Kauflandrsquos

paper and cardboard waste 100 of Kauflandrsquos

private label pork products are marked on the shelf

with the label of the German Animal Welfare Initiative

At the end of 2016 250 stores were entirely provided

with LED technology and 165 stores were equipped

with a combined coolingheating system

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Kaufland provides its employees in the stores with

workwear that is made of Fairtrade and GOTS certified

cotton Old clothes are collected and will be recycled

partly into blankets that will be donated to NGOs

In order to reduce its internal transport emissions

Kaufland offers a car-pooling service app provides

electric carsrsquo charging stations in the headquarters and

electric cars to be used by the employees for short

rides between the headquarters

In 2016 Kaufland was awarded with the ldquoLean and

Green Starrdquo for its reduction of CO2 emissions in

logistics and in 2017 the EIA (Environmental

Investigation Agency) awarded Kaufland as Green

Cooling Leader for its commitment to use HFC-free

refrigeration (CO2 as natural refrigerant already in 50

stores)

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production ndash

Sustainable sourcing

Labelling of all applicable products

with the Label of the German

Animal Welfare Initiative

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Increase the number of stores with

an efficient and economical

lighting concept

Increase the number of stores

equipped with a combined

coolingheating system

Other interesting

initiatives

Improve animal farming and

welfare offering meat from a

higher animal welfare system

Expand the range of

environmentally friendly textiles

Increase the density of the car

charging stations for customers

thus promoting new

technologies

Cooling and freezing cabinets

with glass doors

Strategies to prevent food waste

in stores

FSC Blauer Engel Sustainable

Cleaning products

Sustainable carrier bags

Return system for pallets and

food boxes

Waste separation for customers

and store operations

Solar panels

More sustainable logistic system

Banning of micro-plastics in

private brand products

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all REAP commitments could be shown in the

store because they refer to aspects which are simply not

visible in the store (recycling copy paper in headquarters and

administration from Kauflandrsquos own waste Greenpeace Detox

campaign only certified palm oil in private brand products)

Beyond the commitments many other initiatives from

Kaufland could be seen and were discussed during the shop

visit More interesting activities are already in planning The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by Kaufland were accurately explained Kauflandrsquos

initiatives cover a broad range of different sustainability

aspects such as animal welfare the reduction of their

environmental impact and facilitating their customers to

choose more sustainable products and to act in greener way

apart from their consumption habits

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 33: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 27

Within the European School Fruit Vegetables and Milk

Scheme Kaufland donates fruit and vegetables to

schools every week More than 4000 children in

Germany and 12000 in Croatia are currently

benefitting from this project

As regards plastics since 2016 Kaufland has

committed to avoiding the use solid micro-plastic

particles in cosmetics and personal care products as

well as in its own-brand detergents and cleaners

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kaufland commits to continuously enhancing its

activities on sustainability Furthermore as a retailer it

will continue focussing on influencing consumer

behaviour sustainable productssourcing food waste

and on the reduction of CO2 emissions

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 34: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

28 REAP REPORT 2017

7 KF - The Swedish Cooperative Union is a federation of 31 consumer

cooperative societies in Sweden As of 2007 Coop Sverige operates as a

subsidiary of KF and manages the retail grocery operations 8

KFCoop first reported its commitments for 2016 in September 2017

Therefore only the actual environmentalsustainability strategy has been

considered

KFCOOP SVE RIGE7

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS8

KFCoop has already set numerous sustainable

activities and is working continuously on specific topics

In summary all four life cycle phases (production

distribution logistics and retail place consumption

end-of-life) have been addressed The activities tackle

a variety of topics including sustainable and local

sourced products packaging transport energy

efficiency consumer behaviour food waste and waste

recycling In addition Cooprsquos activities address 4 of the

5 Circular Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food

Waste Critical raw materials Construction and

demolition Biomass and bio-based products) tackling

in particular the Food waste and Plastics one

Furthermore Coops activities with regard to biomass

and bio-based products are being implemented in the

field of renewable fuels and sustainable packaging

Nevertheless it could be taken into consideration to

set out further initiatives regarding the other topics

ldquoWaterrdquo and ldquoReuse and recycling of wasterdquo

Coop is focusing on sustainable consumption and

sustainable production Particularly meat and meat

alternatives are considered by different activities like a

strong communication strategy or offering an

increasing number of vegetarian products In addition

Coop is constantly working to increase the packagings

sustainability profile which is focused on recyclability

renewability and reduction Besides that Coop set

environmental requirements for all transport and

logistics providers such as the environmental

classification of vehicles the share of renewable fuel

and environmentally adapted tires In addition Coop

works continuously to shorten the routes and optimize

the fill rate Concerning energy Coop is constantly

working to reduce and streamline energy use The

majority of Coops stores use electricity from renewable

sources Reducing food waste in the store is a priority

issue for Coop and work has resulted in several

activities (eg improved ordering system price

reduction Cooprsquos Smartbox)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Coop has an ambitions strategy for the sustainable

assortment for 2020-2030 In addition Coop is

participating in several NGO and stakeholder

discussions for a continuous improvement and is

participating in the network ldquoSustainable Supply Chain

for the food sector 2030rdquo in Sweden which is co-

ordinated by WWF with the purpose to set ambitions

goals within the area of sustainable products and food

waste

E-commerce generally contributes to lower emission

levels when the goods are interconnected instead of

being transported individually by the customer Cooprsquos

ambition is to make most of its home deliveries in e-

commerce purchases with biogas-driven trucks In

addition Coop offers customers charging station for e-

cars at a couple of stores

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The ldquoDear Meat-campaignrdquo which addresses the

problems of high meat consumption will be continued

and communication to consumers will be enforced In

addition Coop will continue to increase organic foods

and to promote vegetarian lifestyle and products

Further the cooperation with charities should be

strengthened in order to ensure a more coordinated

concept of food donation for the largest cities Efforts

on the topic ldquoBiomass and biobased productsrdquo will be

continued

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 35: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 29

LIDL

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Lidl set out 6 commitments during year 2016 which

tackle the Production the Distribution logistics and

retail place and the Consumption life cycle phases

All of the commitments have been already achieved

In its German stores Lidl committed to extend the

range and the absolute number of sustainable

products certified according to ecological standards

(FSC MSC Blauer Engel and European Flower labelled

products From 2015 to 2016 the number of

sustainable sourced products increased from 129 to

150 and the amount of recycled or FSC certified

packaging increased to more than 75 from a

percentage of 60 in 2015

The commitment of Lidl on the improvement of the

energy efficiency of its buildings as regards

heatingcooling systems lighting etc begun in 2009 is

constantly in progress From 2009 to 2015 232 stores

were equipped with the new store concept which

saved 3712 MWh energy and 12760 tonnes of CO2

and from year 2015 to end of 2016 and the number of

efficient stores further increased to 249

Great effort is being put in enhancing the number of

buildings certified according to the standard ISO

50001 equal to about 5000 in 2015 In 2016 8200

stores 90 Distribution Centres 8 Central Offices and

the Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany) achieved

the certification

As regards the topic waste during year 2016 relevant

staff in 154 Distribution Centres in more than 20

countries has been trained on how to properly sort

waste The training has the aim of helping to reduce

the residual waste and simultaneously increase the

amount of recycled waste

The implementation of a stronger communication via

website and own print promotions in Germany for

raising customers awareness of food and packaging

waste examples has been successfully carried out a

number of articles and information on food and

packaging waste were in fact published on the Lidlrsquos

webpage during year 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Lidl has been working on sustainability issues which are

relevant for many Lidl countries and is implementing

different measures and initiatives throughout the four

life cycle phases

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Lidl aims to constantly increase the number of building

certified according to the international standard ISO

50001 In 2017 it aims to reach the certification for

9000 stores 145 Distribution Centres 18 Central

Offices and 30 Head Offices in Neckarsulm (Germany)

At the moment Lidl is internally discussing future

developments in different areas which cannot be

published yet due to the still ongoing approval

process

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 36: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

30 REAP REPORT 2017

Community volunteering at MampSlsquos

Green wall at MampSlsquos store

MARKS AND SPENCER

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Marks amp Spencerrsquos 7 commitments address the

Production the Distribution logistics retail place and

the End-of-life life cycle phases Despite the target

year set at 2020 for all the commitments one

commitment has already been achieved and good

progresses have been registered for all of them For

201617 49 of all the cotton MampS sold was from

more sustainable sources (BCI Fairtrade Organic or

Recycled) and 79 of all MampS products had a least

one lsquospecialrsquo Plan A quality The energy efficiency in

MampS operated UK and ROI stores was improved by

39 against 200607 and for the first time 100 of

MampS electricity usage was certified as renewable As

regards food waste it was reduced by 4 per square

foot against 201314 and the re-distribution to

charities was increased to 757 tonnes (up from 60

tonnes) providing around 107 million meals All food

waste not donated to charities was processed by BSI

PAS 110 certified anaerobic digestion facilities 100 of

all wastes were recycled in some form and total waste

was reduced by 28 against the200809 baseline

Eventually MampSrsquos customers helped it recycling a

further 34 million garments (278 million in total)

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

MampS is working together with the local authority to

classify as recyclable the plastic trays used for prepared

meals which are currently thrown away with the mixed

waste due to policy reasons but that are actually

already technically recyclable

MampS has rolled out a Food sustainability factory

programme which aims to progressively increase the

sustainability performances of the suppliers Currently

every factory that supplies MampS food is on a

BronzeSilverGold sustainability ladder and over 50

of the food sold comes from a silver sustainability

factory

MampS is actively working on various topics of the

Circular Economy It supports the Ellen MacArthur

Foundationrsquos work to build a New Plastics Economy

globally and is part of the Consumer Goods Forum

(CGF) through which it tackles deforestation low

carbon refrigeration and food waste Moreover it is

continuing its ldquoShwoppingrdquo initiative (encouraging

customers to donate clothing theyrsquove finished with to

Oxfam) and improving it to make it more circular In

addition it will be developing Circular Economy

Standards to ensure its clothing and home products

are all made to last and can be reused and recycled

MampS is currently focusing on replacing grid supplied

gas for heating purposes with bio-methane injected

into the UK grid on its behalf For 201617 MampS

replaced 27 of its annual gas heating usage with bio-

methane reducing its GHG emissions by 11700 tonnes

CO2e

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The path for future developments is already laid out by

the new ldquoPlan A 2025 commitmentsrdquo major focus

being sustainable sourcing and operating waste

reduction emissions reduction and influencing

consumers behaviour

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 37: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 31

MERCADONA

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Mercadonarsquos 13 REAP commitments address mainly

the End-of-life life cycle phase (5 commitments) but

tackles also the consumption phase the distribution

logistics and retail place phase and the production

phase Mercadona has reported good progress on its

commitments The new sustainability protocol

specifically directed to fishing vessels in coastal waters

has been established and 100 of suppliers signed it

The new two-dozen egg packaging allowed avoiding

1500 truck runs in 2016 Moreover the special bi-

annual Environmental Report specifically focused on

communicating to the general public Mercadonarsquos

actions with environmental relevance has been

published this year The commitment of changing the

dielectric fluid in stores transformers from silicon to

vegetable oil-derived reducing hazardous waste is in

progress at the end of year 2016 the change has

been made in 65 stores As regards food waste in

2016 4000 tons of not-apt-for-direct-sale fruit have

been used to produce juices sauces and soups by

dedicated supplier Dafsa instead of being wasted

Moreover Mercadona started selling in 2016 special

pet food made from salmon by-products from one of

its dedicated suppliers Eventually the number of soup

kitchen receiving daily food donations from

Mercadona increased from 100 in 2015 to 120 in 2016

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Through its ongoing project CASPOPDONA

Mercadona works on the sustainability of its entire

supply chain The activities carried out in this projectrsquos

framework aim in

particular at strengthening the collaboration between

suppliers and manufacturers which leads to an

optimisation of the use of natural resources

As regards the use of refrigerant gases Mercadona is

changing its refrigeration systems with subcritical CO2

systems which allow for considerable savings in energy

consumption and reduce atmospheric emissions

Currently 100 stores have been provided with the new

system the substitution will proceed with an

approximate speed of 60 stores a year

Store visit summary Theme Commitments for verification

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

A change in the two-dozen egg

packaging from supplier Huevos

Guilleacuten allows better stacking and

saves unnecessary truck runs

End-of-life - food

waste

Pet food made from salmon by-

products from one of our

dedicated suppliers Pilot phase in

2015 going full scale in 2016

End-of-life - food

waste

Mercadona has focused on

different strategies to prevent food

waste in stores New tools are now

available for stores to order

according to sales We aim to

reduce food waste in our process

25 in the next 3 years

Other interesting

initiatives

New efficient store model

Plastic bags for fruit in two

different sizes

PA OLI and GEL project

(preparation of bread at the

logistic centres frozen and then

transported to the stores)

ISSF label on tuna products from

Mercadonaacutes own brand

Hacentado and FSC packaging

Concentrated own brand

products Bosque Verde

Paper products with WWF label

Special wine bottles stacking

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified

although not all commitments could completely be shown

(ie main strategies for food waste prevention) The store visit

was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives carried

out by Mercadona were accurately explained Besides the

many initiatives in order to increase the sustainability of the

own brand products Mercadona is currently focused on

reducing its environmental impacts by working on the

sustainability of its supply chain in particular promoting

beneficial collaboration between suppliers

Material from house cleaning items such as buckets and mops which Mercadona

dedicated supplier SPmiddotBerner is now able to recycle and to turn them into recycled plastic

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 38: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

32 REAP REPORT 2017

As regards plastics Mercadona has eliminated all the

plastic which is commonly present in the flushable

toilet tissues its own brands tissues are 100 cellulose

Moreover Mercadonarsquos own brand body scrubs are

made with natural abrasive materials unlike other

products which usually contain plastic

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Mercadona has a strong commitment on the plastic

topic One of its targets is to be able to reuse the film

which is produced in high amounts in the stores and

entirely sent to recycling plants

Some possible voluntary future initiatives have also

been identified in order to support the reduction of the

environmental impacts in the consumption phase

namely

adjusting the portions offered to the customers to

better meet the different needs

offer bulk products

provide labels on the products with conservation

instructions (eg ldquothis item do not need to be

stored in a refrigeratorrdquo etc)

Green roof in one of Mercadona stores in Madrid (at General Martiacutenez-Campos Street)

Natural gas-powered truck used for deliveries to three stores in Madrid

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 39: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 33

METRO AG with sales lines Metro Cash amp Carry and Real and CECONOMY with sales lines Saturn and Mediamarkt

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

METRO AG and CECONOMY commitments address

the life cycle phases Production Consumption and

End-of-life with particular focus on the topics ldquoIncrease

reuse and recyclability through designrdquo and

ldquoInfluencing consumer behaviourrdquo

The two commitments with target year 2016 and 2017

regarding the availability of free plastic bags in Saturn

Mediamarkt and Real stores have been successfully

achieved and the sale of single use plastic bags has

been abolished

The initiative on the optimisation of own brand

packaging is also on the right track with 2440 SKUs

reviewed until September 2016 (36 of the target) In

the context of this project by September 2016 652

of the Tetra Pak and SIG brick beverage cartons were

FSC certified and the number of SKUs with PVC

packaging was reduced from 1004 SKUs to 311 SKUs

METRO Cash amp Carry France is supporting the

Gourmet Bag initiative of the food authority DRAAF

Auvergne-Rhocircne-Alpes and has developed a

comprehensive package for newcomers to the

programme which contains information and

recommendations on how to avoid food waste

Gourmet Bag door stickers and reusable doggy bags

The implementation of the guidance system for

sustainability recommended products in Saturn and

Mediamarkt storesonline is ongoing the in-store

testing phase is carried out at the Saturn Freiburg store

as well as in the Saturn online shop (wwwsaturnde)

The vertical farm project whose first pilot project with

INFARM as partner was launched in Berlin in 2016 has

given great results the in-store production of herbs

and salad with excellent quality and taste uses 70 less

fertiliser 90 less water and zero pesticides

In 2016 1230 tonnes of used edible fats were collected

from 9961 customers by METRO Cash ampCarry France

against the 570 tonnes collected from 5512 customers

in 2015

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 40: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

34 REAP REPORT 2017

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

METRO AG joined the Electric Vehicle 100 (EV100)

Initiative which aims to promote electro-mobility

through contributions from companies METRO for

example already operates 128 electric charging points

in nine countries (Belgium China Germany Spain

France Italy Netherlands Austria and Ukraine) and by

the end of the year it plans to install another eight

charging points for at its headquarters

The ldquoMETRO Water Initiativerdquo aims at improving the

supply chains of all participating partners in favour of a

sustainable handling of water In 2017 20 countries

participated in the initiative and METROrsquos brand

perception among customers employees suppliers

and investors was improved

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Water management and a company-wide water

strategy have been identified as a future priority A

major focus will be on awareness about water

contamination and water use Furthermore dairy

products shall be a focus in animal welfare activities at

Real while Cash amp Carry is developing a meat policy

focusing on local and regional products quality and

animal welfare METRO AG is promoting scientific

research and start-ups in biomass production and

alternative protein sources (insects plants) as an

innovative initiative in the field of sustainable food

production

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 41: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 35

REWE GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

REWE GROUPrsquos REAP commitments address the

Production Distribution logistics retail place and the

Consumption life cycle phases with particular focus on

sustainable palm oil One out of three commitments

with target year 2016 has been fulfilled to 97 while

the other two have been already fully achieved

together with a commitment with target year 2017

(achieved already in 2016) one with target year 2020

and one ldquoongoingrdquo Currently REWE Group buys 97

pure refined and non-refined certified segregated

palm oil and 100 pure refined and non-refined

certified segregated palm kernel oil Moreover the

share of palm oil derivatives and fractions certified by

at least mass balance is now equal to 100 As of year

2016 a reduction of 387 of specific GHG emissions

per square meter of sales area has been realized

thanks to improved energy efficiency (with regard for

example to lighting refrigeration and heating) the use

of certified green electricity tests with environmentally

more friendly refrigerants and employees energy

awareness campaigns The commitment to organise a

Stakeholder Dialogue per year was achieved and in

2016 fora and workshops were organised in

Duumlsseldorf with the participation of about 200 peoples

from NGOs politics economy science and civil society

The discussed topic were marine litter packaging the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) food waste

and supply chain risk assessment

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In July 2016 REWE Group - as the first large food

retailer - established a ban of plastic bags in its

German REWE markets Instead REWE promotes bags

and boxes made of recycling-PET cotton jute or

cardboard which can be used multiple times This

leads to an annual reduction of around 140 million

plastic bags and 1400 tons of plastic REWE Grouprsquos

German discount stores ldquoPennyrdquo introduced the ban in

January 2017 resulting in an annual reduction of 63

million plastic bags REWE Group is also determined to

ban unnecessary packaging from its shelves For

example REWE Group is testing natural branding for

marking organic avocados and sweet potatoes Laser

technology is used to apply information to a productrsquos

skin As a result no packaging is needed to identify

organic fruits and vegetables Since April 2016 PENNY

Germany sells organic fruits and vegetables that have

defects in their skin color or shape as ldquoOrganic

Heroesrdquo within its private brandrsquos product range This

way products that do not meet the standard of beauty

but have the same quality taste and durability as their

ldquoprettyrdquo counterparts are supplied to customers in a

regular way It increases the consumption of already

grown products and lowers the mere utilization of

laboriously produced groceries That way organic

farmers can sell their produce at appropriate prices to

secure their economic position instead of selling it for

a lower value to food processing Efficiency gains are

made across the production at farming level due to

reduced sorting needs In 2009 REWE Group and the

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)

developed a concept for more sustainable stores

combining modern architecture with energy-efficient

technologies and the use of renewable energy Today

already 100 REWE Green Buildings were built The

REWE Group also plays an active role in sector

initiatives such as Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil

German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa The Animal

Welfare Initiative Textile Alliance Fruit Juice Platform

or Initiative Biodiversity in Good Company - often as a

launching partner

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Together with the University of Leipzig REWE Group

developed ldquoSELEGGTrdquo - an endocrinological procedure

for gender determination in a hatching-egg In the

current series of experiments the accuracy of the

determination is already very high and reaches at least

the 95 required in practice The procedure thus has

the potential to overcome the practice of killing male

hens in the next few years

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 42: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

36 REAP REPORT 2017

S-GROUP

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

S-Grouprsquos reported commitments address two of the

four life cycle phases (production distribution logistics

and retail place consumption end-of-life) with

particular focus on the Distribution logistics retail

place which is addressed by 3 commitments tackling

the topics renewable energy emission reduction and

energy consumption while the Production phase

counts only one commitment on sustainable sourcing

1 of S-Grouprsquos commitments address the Circular

Economy Priority Areas (Plastics Food Waste Critical

raw materials Construction and demolition Biomass

and bio-based products) with regard to Biomass and

bio-based products and Food waste (biofuels

produced from raw materials derived from waste and

food waste) Nevertheless the sustainability work of S-

Group covers all four life-cycle phases and the majority

of main topics No commitments have so far been

reported with regard to increase reuse and recycling of

waste energy consuming and water saving products

S Groups fuel supplier to the ABC service stations is

North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT) which is partly

owned by S-Group (51) In 2017 NEOT sold 600

million litres of bioethanol about 348 million litres

(58) of it was produced from raw materials derived

from waste and food waste as well as generated

outside the food supply chain

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production -

Sustainable sourcing

90 of NEOTs biofuels produced

from raw materials derived from

waste and food waste such as

organic waste in food production

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduction of energy consumption

To raise wind power usage to 50

by the end of 2016

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

arising from the activities of the S

Group

Other interesting

initiatives

Certified products product

labels increase the number of

available products with

environmental and sustainability

certificates

Plastic bags options for carry-

home-bags

Food waste customerrsquos

information

Conclusions

Only the commitment regarding energy reduction could be

verified during the store visit Regarding the other reported

REAP-commitments current information on the target

achievement was provided by S-Group Additionally S-Group

has a very large range of sustainability acts which were

discussed during the visit Some of them could also be

observed at the store The visit was well organized and all

sustainable initiatives carried out by S-Group were accurately

explained

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 43: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 37

In addition S-Group is investing heavily in wind power

and by the end of the

year 2016 the wind power capacity had been

extended so far that the goal of wind power

accounting for 50 of the electricity used by the

Group could be met The target to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions arising from the activities of the S

Group by 35 refers to the emissions from real estates

(emission caused by heating and production of

electricity) which had decreased by the of 2016 by 41

since 2010 As regards energy the specific relative

energy consumption of S-Group has decreased by

30 by the end of the year 2016 but extend store

hours have increased now energy consumption which

represents a new challenge in terms of meeting the

target

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

The sustainability program of S-Group includes acts

and objectives related to the production of meat S-

Group is for example currently conducting a survey on

the use of soy and soy fodder in products sold by S

Group in order to investigate the climate impact Based

on the study a procedure for action will be drawn up

As regards the transportation of good from retail to

households S-Group tries to support the use of electric

vehicles by means of offering a wide network of

charging points as possible Besides that S-Group is

committed to facilitate the recycling efforts of its

customers by means of offering sorting instructions

and extensive recycling opportunities

Furthermore S-Group has a goal zero-waste to

landfills by 2016

This goal was quite not reached but only 1 of S-

Groups waste was taken to landfills Concerning food

waste in S-Groups grocery stores food loss is

managed through systematic management of orders

deliveries transports and inventories as well as proper

packaging design S-Groups grocery stores already

have more than 400 charity partners to whom

foodstuffs are donated regularly Further S-Group has

set a goal to reduce relative food loss (food loss in

relation to sales) by 15 by the end of 2020

compared to the baseline year 2014

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

S-Group is currently developing new methods for the

calculation of greenhouse gas emissions caused by S-

Groups operations so that the calculation covers the

entire value chain Based on the new calculations S-

Group plans to set new ldquoscience-based climate

targetsrdquo

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 44: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

38 REAP REPORT 2017

SONAE

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Sonaersquos commitments address all the four life cycle

phases with particular focus on the consumption

phase (which counts 7 commitments) followed by the

distribution logistics retail place and the production

phases (with 5 commitments each) Nevertheless

SONAE already implemented several actions in the

past years SONAE commitments address sustainable

fishing packaging refrigerant gases and sustainable

and healthy lifestyle

Concerning sustainable fishing SONAE addressed its

suppliers with code of conducts for sustainable fishery

to protect biodiversity labelling and information for

consumers and traceability of products in the stores It

also asks its fishers to indicate if they comply with

particular sustainability labels the specification of these

labels and if the feed (for aquaculture) is GMO or not

Concerning packaging the main target is the overall

reduction of packaging SONAE already improved

frozen pizza cartons and coffee capsules In some

other cases the so-called ldquosecondary packagingrdquo was

eliminated for instance with rice packaging With

regard to storesacute cooling systems SONAE is phasing

out of all refrigerant gases with a high GWP using

natural refrigerants in new stores and deep

refurbishment of old stores together with retrofitting in

other old refrigerating appliances with new gages with

lower GWP

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

Other initiatives also exist which were not presented in

the commitments but have been part of the portfolio

of sustainable measures for years

In agriculture for more than 10 years SONAE is

applying its own producer classification process which

includes audits and a checklist with more than 100

questions including environment human rights etc

Last year SONAE began introducing the international

Global GAP methodology aiming at replace its own

producer classification process and support its

suppliers to move towards an international

methodology giving them a new tool for their own

internationalization SONAE also offers an education

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

Production - increase

reuse and

recyclability through

design

Reduction of the materials used

concerning primary packaging and

shipping boxes of controlled and

own brand products

Distribution logistics

retail place -

emissions and

(alternative) energy

Reduce or even eradicate the use of

gases with a high GWP (Global

Warming Potential) for instance the

R404

Consumption -

influencing

customers behaviour

Raising customer awareness of

fishing sustainability issues

Provide the necessary information

about our products so that

consumers can make an informed

and appropriate choice according to

their lifestyle

Continue to promote a healthy

lifestyle providing more and better

information and working together

with the community

Other interesting

initiatives

Established collection points for

old smart phones

Sonaersquos electronics shop chain

WORTEN featuring natural light or

LED technology

Conclusions

All commitments under consideration have been verified The

store visit was well organised and all the sustainable initiatives

carried out by SONAE were accurately explained Beside the

presented commitments SONAE has many initiatives in order

to increase the sustainability at all life cycle phases which are

already successfully running for years

training to workers for sustainable production and a

kind a ldquoreward systemrdquo for producers Concerning

energy smart installations of led lights as well as

special windows on the roof capable of conveying sun

light inside the stores were already installed in food

stores and electronics stores (part of the SONAE

group) already some years ago Photovoltaic panels

are also installed on the roof top of supermarket (up to

650 Kwh) For its transport SONAE tries to improve the

logistic Trucks are leased for max 4 years so they can

be easier substituted with more efficient vehicles The

routes are planned to optimize the efficiency and to

send around just fully loaded trucks Concerning waste

production SONAE has a ldquoLoss preventionrdquo

department to prevent food waste production The

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 45: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 39

recently implemented ldquoTransformarterdquo project is a new

tool aiming at giving new life to products that most

probably will end as waste depreciating products

which are approaching their expiration date

promoting repackaging when any parts of a unit are

not commercially attractive or lowering the price of

cooked products at the end of the day to boost their

disposal are examples of simple actions that contribute

to the reduction of waste When SONAE donates

products to social institutions or make them available

in its social areas it are promoting their use avoiding

to become waste When SONAE extends the life of the

products transforming them internally or externally it

is following the logic of the circular economy In

addition an internal zero-waste policy to achieve zero

waste to landfill was established and a prototype plan

for anaerobic digestion to treat organic waste from a

hypermarket was built

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Even if meat is outside of the scope at the moment

and wonacutet be taken into account in upcoming

commitments SONAE will try to address it especially if

the consumers will require that

Concerning products footprint SONAE might consider

in the future a ldquotraffic light systemrdquo which displays at a

glance the sustainability of products

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 46: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

40 REAP REPORT 2017

VAKCENTRUM

ANALYSIS OF COMMITMENTS

Vakcentrum has developed in collaboration with the

Dutch research organisation TNO a specific quality

mark for supermarket entrepreneurs who are

committed to responsible business practices and

therefore distinguish themselves from other

supermarkets called SSK (Super Supermarkt Keurmerk

Super Supermarket Quality Mark) The quality mark

acknowledges local entrepreneurs who are committed

and active in many areas of corporate social

responsibility To date about 210 supermarkets in the

Netherlands (only SMEs) have achieved the

certification SSK is administered by the Stichting Super

Supermarkt Keurmerk

Vakcentrum has set out two commitments with target

year 2016 which address the End-of-life life cycle

phase Both targets regarding the implementation of

communication activities aimed at raising the

awareness of the customers on the reduction of food

waste and on waste recycling have been achieved

The campaign ldquoLandelijke Opschoondagrdquo organised

every year at a national level to fight against street

littering was supported by the SSK quality mark and

saw the participation of many of the SSKrsquos

entrepreneurs The SSK supermarkets also support the

national campaign ldquoGlas in lsquot Bakkierdquo which aims to

improve the separation of glass in the Netherlands by

promoting the collection of glass Vakcentrum

launched in 2016 a cooking channel which gives

specific tips and ideas for using the leftovers and

encourages customers to reduce food waste The

cooking channel directly involves the local supermarket

entrepreneurs and can be watched in the supermarket

as well as online on the SSKrsquos website and pages on

the main social media

OTHER INTERESTING INITIATIVES

In the SSK supermarkets the products approaching the

best before date are provided with stickers with the

words (in Dutch language) ldquoTogether against food

waste matter of doingrdquo

Store visit summary

Theme Commitments for verification

End-of-life - reuse

and recycling of

waste

Raise awareness and stimulate

waste separation through activities

for its members

End-of-life - food

waste

Raise awareness on food waste

reduction by means of the SSK

cooking channel

Other interesting

initiatives

Stickers against food waste

Stickers with storage advice of

commonly used fresh products

Distribution of written

information on how to reuse

leftovers

National campaign lsquoEetmaatjersquo

Promotion of local products

Promotion of waste separation

including small WEEE and other

special waste

PLUS Bendersrsquo green roof

Jumbo Roel Heerschaprsquos

charging station for electric bikes

and cardboard press

Conclusions

The selected commitments reported to REAP in year 2016

have been verified via written information and during the

opening meeting The programme of the day was well

prepared many people have been involved in order to

provide a complete overview of the measures and activities

implemented by Vakcentrum and its associates on

sustainability

Besides the specific commitments reported to REAP the SSK

certification developed by Vakcentrum is itself a unique

example of commitment to sustainability which promotes and

supports sustainability practices among the SMEs guiding

them towards a greener retailing using the tool of healthy

competition to push them forward

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 47: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 41

Stickers with simple graphic indication on which

products should be stored in the refrigerator and

which not are distributed at SSK stores with the aim of

educating the customers and reducing the risk of food

waste

A small measuring cup (lsquoEetmaatjersquo) for determining

the correct amount of pasta rice and couscous per

person is distributed for free to the customers with the

aim of reducing the risk of food waste

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Vakcentrum is currently working together with TNO on

a sustainability guidance with information about new

innovations and an indication of the investment

energy saving and the payback period of these

innovation This will guide the entrepreneurs in the

choice of the most suitable and beneficial measures to

improve sustainability In addition Vakcentrum and

TNO are also working on personnel (awareness)

training with the aim of training the personnel on how

to communicate and spread the SSK values in the most

effective way

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 48: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

42 REAP REPORT 2017

9 Only related to Large Enterprises (LE)

10 Provided by Eurostat and the calculated market-shares of LEs and SMEs

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE COMMITMENTS IF APPLIED BY THE WHOLE SECTOR The definition of common objectives and the joint work of retailers own a great power and can

lead to a considerable environmental impact Therefore in order to highlight the significance of

the commitments reported by the REAP signatories in 2016 the total environmental impact of

some commitments was simulated by presuming their extension to the whole retail sector and

determining the related magnitude of the benefit The commitments were selected on the basis of

the relevance of the environmental topics addressed the public availability of data and the

possibility to carry out an uncomplicated extrapolation for the whole sector by a screening

The purpose of this exemplary assessment is to provide

an impression of the magnitude of the potential

savings and benefits which is supported also by a

comparison with easily understandable facts and

figures It should be therefore noted that the following

results can be seen only as indicative and not as final

absolute values

The extension of the set targets of the retailers

mentioned above to the corresponding whole sector9

is performed by using turnover data10

A relation

between turnover and waste reductionrecycling

(resource efficiency) is assumed by the presumption

that retailers of a certain sector which are similar in

store sizetypes and turnover have an equal

environmental behaviour and have already

implemented comparable measures

Table 1 Commitments selected for assessment

Sector Retailer Target description (detailed) Topic

food Mercadona

4000 tonnes of fruit will be

used for juices sauces and

soups instead of being

wasted in 2016 (Baseline

2015)

waste

reduction

food

Metro

Group

(MCC ndash

France)

In 2015 MCC - France

collected 570 tonnes used

edible fats from customers

to ensure appropriate

disposal and producing

biogas (Baseline 2014)

waste

recycling

textile Marks amp

Spencer

Recycling a total of 50

million garments of clothes

by 2020 (Baseline 2008)

resource

efficiency

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 49: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

REAP REPORT 2017 43

REDUCTION OF FRUIT WASTE - FOOD SECTOR

If Mercadonalsquos commitment were applied by the whole

food sector (LEs) a total amount of 170000 tonnes of

fruits would be saved in total whereof 90 kt arise from

REAP-retailers and 80 kt from NON-REAP-retailers

Comparing the amount of potential fruit waste savings

with the number of treatment plants which are

normally needed for waste disposal 07 incineration

plants (capacity 250 ktyr) or 17 fermentation plants

(capacity 10 ktyr) or 48 composting plants (capacity

35 ktyr) would not be required anymore

RECYCLING OF USED EDIBLE FATSOIL ndash FOOD SECTOR

If Metro Group MCC - Francelsquos commitment were

applied by the whole food sector (LEs) 116000 tonnes

of edible fatsoils could be collected and recycled in

total Comparing these amounts with the amount of

produced biogas in million Nm3 a total amount of 102

million Nm3 biogas would be produced in total

whereof 53 million Nm3 arise from REAP-retailers and

48 million Nm3 from NON-REAP-retailers

RECYCLING OF CLOTHES ndash TEXTILE SECTOR

If Marks amp Spencerlsquos commitment were applied by the

whole textile sector (LEs) the new production of 26

million garments per year would not be necessary and

the disposal of this quantity of textiles can be saved

Comparing this amount with the number of treatment

plants which are normally needed for waste disposal

the illustration shows that 06 incineration plants

(capacity 250 ktyr) would not be required anymore

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 50: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN

44 REAP REPORT 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The commitmentsrsquo analysis and the individual

exchanges with the REAP signatories highlighted a

strong focus on the Production life cycle phase as well

as in the Distribution Logistics and Retail Place one

Retailerrsquos activities on the production phase target

mainly the packaging topic and partially productrsquos eco-

design Measures regarding efficient use of resources

in production processes sustainable sourcing and the

cooperation across the value chain are already well

implemented Even if only a few commitments are

currently addressing the meat and agricultural based

products identified as main hotspots for the

production phase initiatives are already in place in

order to address these topics A full alignment between

the measures suggested by CE Action Plan and the

ones addressed by the commitments is achieved for

the distribution logistics and retail place phase mainly

concerning the transport of goods the use of

refrigerants the electricity consumption and the

production of energy

As regards the Circular Economy Priority Areas REAP

members are particularly active on Plastics and Food

Waste Actions are implemented in order to increase

the recycling rate of plastic to phase out hazardous

chemical additives to increase food donations and to

develop new packaging solutions in order to improve

sustainability and to prolong the shelf life of products

The estimation of the potential impact of selected

commitments if they were applied by the whole sector

showed that the definition of common objectives and

the joint work can lead to results with a considerable

environmental impact

Eventually a topic which is becoming increasingly

important for the REAP signatories are the United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals Many retailers

already include the SDGs in their

environmentalsustainability reporting connecting their

activities with the SDGs they are contributing to

Some recommendations can be made in order to

focus the efforts and maximise the results of retailersrsquo

actions towards a more circular economy

Continue efforts on the Production and

Distribution logistics retail place by increasing

the initiatives aimed at making products more

durable or easier to repair improve cooperation

with suppliersproducers and reduce the

environmental impact of transport

Maximize the use of ldquochoice editingrdquo especially for

energy and water consuming products

Further increase commitment on Plastics phasing

out hazardous chemical additives developing

internal policies on more sustainable packaging

raise awareness among consumers

Focus initiatives on Food waste to the use of by-

products from the food chain as a resource in

animal feed improve the use of date marking and

understanding by consumers

Improve the collection and recycling of Critical

Raw Materials by increasing recycling of electronic

devices through return- and take-back systems

Promote the use of bio-based materials in

products and intensify the use of biofuels

Increase collection separation and recycling of

construction and demolition waste

Strongly increase the active involvement of

customers

Page 51: Monitoring of REAP commitments & technical support for ...€¦ · 2016 REAP commitments, however, are mainly focused on palm oil, wood and paper, seafood and packaging. PRODUCT DESIGN