Great progress toward achieving our REset Plastic targets

From Schwarz Produktion and our retail divisions Lidl and Kaufland to the disposal and recycling activities headed by our PreZero environmental division, the Schwarz Group is involved in the entire circular economy. This calls for a great deal of responsibility, which we take very seriously. That is why we as the Schwarz Group decided to set ambitious targets for 2025 as part of our plastics strategy REset Plastic. We are pursuing these targets group-wide, never losing sight of our vision: Less Plastic – Closed Loops.

Our targets for 2025:

• Use 20 percent less plastic for our private label packaging and transport materials
• Design 100 percent of our private label packaging to be as recyclable as possible
• Use an average of 25 percent recycled materials in our plastic private label packaging.

Thanks to the close collaboration between Schwarz Produktion, our Lidl and Kaufland retail divisions, and our PreZero environmental division, we have already  achieved great success both in Germany and on an international scale.

This is illustrated by the following figures, which were reported for the 2021 fiscal year:

Across all countries, both retail divisions reduced their use of plastic in private label packaging by 18 percent, thus bringing them even closer to achieving their REset Plastic target of using 20 percent less plastic by 2025. In Germany, they have already surpassed this target: Kaufland Germany was able to cut its use of plastic by 26 percent, and Lidl in Germany by 22 percent.

Furthermore, we as the Schwarz Group have pledged to use an average of 25 percent recycled materials in Lidl and Kaufland’s plastic private label packaging by 2025. Currently, all countries are using an average of 14 percent recycled materials. Kaufland Germany is already making its private label packaging out of 29 percent and Lidl in Germany out of 23 percent recycled material. We were able to achieve this primarily by replacing the disposable PET bottles produced by Schwarz Produktion with rPET bottles made entirely of recycled materials (except for the caps and labels).

In all 32 countries with Lidl and Kaufland stores, we have currently achieved maximum recyclability for 50 percent of our private label packaging across the group, corresponding to half of our set target. At Lidl Germany, the company has already reached 58 percent and at Kaufland Germany 42 percent maximum recyclability for its private label packaging.

We are building on our previous success and continuously developing sustainable measures to help achieve our targets. This is how we aim to reduce the use of more plastic in the future, use more recycled materials, and increase the recyclability of our private label packaging even further.

Less Plastic – Closed Loops: With its REset Plastic vision, the Schwarz Group is moving toward a sustainable future. Each and every action intended to ensure that plastic is used responsibly contributes to the greater good. Together we are working to achieve our targets consistently across the group.