Dusseldorf The Schwarz Group sees itself as a pioneer in the sustainable use of plastic. The bottles for the drinks of all their own brands for the subsidiaries Lidl and Kaufland are made from 100 percent waste plastic, no other retailer in Germany can show that. The company has invested several hundred million euros in this system.
“In the past few years, we have developed a recyclable bottle that has been proven to be just as sustainable as reusable, and in some cases even better,” says Jörg Aldenkott, CEO of Schwarz production, in an interview with the Handelsblatt: “We have verified this through an independent ecological assessment confirm.”
Nevertheless, politics could soon force retailers to introduce a reusable system at a cost of millions. Because the EU is planning a regulation that will oblige every retailer to comply with a certain reusable quota – even if the one-way deposit system used up to now is just as sustainable.
The proposal for the new regulation states that from January 1, 2030, every retailer must offer ten percent of non-alcoholic soft drinks in reusable packaging. From January 1, 2040, this quota will increase to 25 percent. The regulation does not give a reason for this, its primary purpose is to harmonize national measures.
“We are not against reusable packaging, but we advocate a fact-based, open dialogue for the best ecological packaging solutions,” demands Schwarz manager Aldenkott. The Schwarz Group has developed a recycling system with a regional supply structure in which the material used is 100% processed back into new bottles. “Why would you regulate a system like this that has been shown to have benefits?” he asks.
The CEO of the Schwarz production calls for an “open dialogue for the ecologically best packaging solutions”.
(Photo: Schwarz Group)
This is exactly what Schwarz has now been certified by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (Ifeu) in Iserlohn. The life cycle assessment prepared by Ifeu states that Lidl’s own brand of mineral water Saskia in the 1.5 liter disposable bottle causes 33 kilograms of CO2 per 1000 liters of filling material.
For comparison: When using one-liter PET reusable bottles from the pool system of the German Fountain Cooperatives, around 41 kilograms of CO2 are produced per 1000 liters, with 0.7-liter glass bottles the value is even 61 kilograms. In each case, the entire process was examined, from the production of the bottle to bottling, delivery to the store and return transport to recycling.
It has been a political goal for years to reduce packaging waste. For this reason, the Packaging Act, an implementation of the European Packaging Directive, contains the goal of achieving 70 percent reusable packaging for beverages. So far, however, there is no obligation. According to the latest available data from the Federal Environment Agency, the proportion is 41.3 percent.
Lidl, Aldi: Environmental groups are demanding an additional fee for disposable items
For this reason, environmental protection associations are repeatedly calling on the federal government to take stricter measures to achieve this goal. The associations are particularly critical of Aldi and Lidl, whose reusable rate is zero percent.
“The ongoing boycott of reusables by players such as Aldi or Lidl is no longer acceptable,” explains the so-called reusable alliance, which includes the German Environmental Aid and the Federal Association of German Beverage Wholesalers. The alliance is therefore demanding an additional incentive tax of 20 cents on disposable bottles.
“Reusable packaging is essential for avoiding packaging waste,” emphasizes the Federal Environment Agency. Compared to disposable packaging, they could make an important contribution to environmental protection and resource conservation.
Until now, reusable bottles were considered more sustainable than a system with one-way returnable bottles. This has also become firmly established in the consciousness of the population. A representative Forsa survey commissioned by the Schwarz Group showed that 36 percent of those surveyed supported the promotion of returnable bottles even if the one-way bottle had a better ecological balance.
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Numerous studies had shown that reusable packaging tended to have a better ecological balance. However, it depends very much on the design in the individual case, for example on the packaging volume, weight, number of circulations, the transport distance and in particular the amount of recycling material.
The 1.5-liter non-returnable bottles cause 33 kilograms of CO2 per 1000 liters of filling material.
(Photo: Schwarz Production Foundation/ commlab GmbH)
The Schwarz Group has implemented numerous measures to reduce CO2 emissions from bottle packaging. The weight of the 1.5 liter bottle has dropped by 35 percent since 2008. A reorganization of logistics also reduced the average transport distance from 300 to 180 kilometers.
Lidl bottles made 100 percent from recyclate: competitor Aldi wants to increase the proportion of recyclate
Apart from the cap and label, the bottles are now made from 100 percent recyclate and are also completely recyclable. This creates a closed material cycle. “We have invested very consistently in research and development of a recycling system and in recycling plants and collection systems,” says Schwarz Production CEO Aldenkott.
“We’re proving that it’s possible to make beverage bottles entirely from recycled plastic,” explains the manager. Often, however, no recycled material is used for cost reasons, which is usually more expensive than new material. “We are happy to share our know-how in the circular economy with other manufacturers to help bring the recycled content in the bottles to 100 percent,” he assures.
Aldi is also investing in the sustainability of its own brand products. The Lidl competitor already uses up to 50 percent recyclate for many beverage packaging. The retailer already offers some drinks in bottles with 100 percent recycled content, including mineral water and juices.
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If the retailers were to be prescribed a multiple-use obligation in the future, this would entail high economic costs. DIW Econ estimates that with a general obligation to offer and take back at least 1.5 billion euros in transformation costs in the year of introduction. With a mandatory 70 percent quota, the costs would even rise to 11.2 billion euros.
The retailers would have to expand their logistics centers, convert the deposit machines, and set up sorting and cleaning systems. In addition, in the 70 percent scenario, more than 9,000 additional trucks would have to be produced. After all, up to 400,000 compressed non-returnable PET bottles fit in a truck for return transport – but only 15,000 returnable glass bottles.
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