We believe in the positive impact of encouraging our employees and surrounding communities to use practices that prevent and minimise waste as well as to correctly separate waste, – to help save natural resources.
We endeavour to recycle the waste we produce. In 2017, we recycled more than 84% of the waste we produced. In all, we produced 446,564 thousand tonnes of waste, 6.3% more than the previous year. This increase is due to the Group’s growing operations.
As food experts, we are determined to fight against food waste on all fronts.
That’s why we are committed to reducing 50% of the food waste produced by our operations by 2025, as part of the Consumer Goods Forum, with 2016 as the base year.
Thus, we continue to work toward this goal through the partnerships we have established with our suppliers and hundreds of charities.
We buy non-standard size fruit and vegetables from our suppliers which, before, were left discarded in the fields.
We, therefore, strive to contribute to reducing waste upstream of our operations, whilst also ensuring that these products, which have the same nutritional profile as the others, are integrated in the value chain, and reach consumers’ tables.
The so-called “ugly” fruits and vegetables are thus used in the soups we make in Portugal and Poland or transformed into 4th range products, in other words, convenience food solutions such as pre-cut and washed ready-to-use vegetables. These “ugly” products are also sold in their original form, at a reduced price in Recheio stores.
That’s how, in 2017, we were able to introduce 13,600 tonnes of these “ugly” products in the value chain, resulting in an increase of over 2% compared to 2016.
Our goal is to foster more sustainable supply chains and consumption practices by having in-depth knowledge of the source and production methods of the resources we use, such as paper and plastic.
The projects we develop not only encourage the use of paper from sustainably managed forests when absolutely necessary, but also to effectively reduce paper usage.
In Poland, the paper used at our offices is produced by environmentally certified companies or by those which, at least, have a certified environmental management system. In Colombia, the paper used is manufactured using sugar cane. In Portugal, our paper is a “European Ecolabel” product.
The paper used in Portugal for printing the banners’ magazines is PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified and/or the companies producing it have ISO 14001 certification. The paper used for the Pingo Doce and Recheio leaflets and catalogues is also a “European Ecolabel” product or FSC or PEFC certified. The same goes for the leaflets we print in Poland.
We also use practices such as electronic invoicing management, which helped us save over 7.85 million sheets of paper in 2017, thereby sparing the lives of nearly 940 trees.
Having an effective sustainability strategy implies changing internal practices, as well as encouraging our suppliers to use more responsible processes.
We have been working together with our suppliers to improve the eco-efficiency profile of packaging to:
Since the project began in 2010, and until 2017, over 3.4 thousand tonnes of materials per year have been spared and the emission of 475 tonnes of CO2 on transport has been avoided annually. With this, we improved the eco-efficiency of the packaging of more than 270 Private Brand product references.
At the Jerónimo Martins Group, we charge for the plastic bags provided at our checkout counters of all our Companies, thus encouraging our customers to use less plastic bags. This initiative has been gradually introduced since 2007.
In Portugal, we use reusable plastic crates in the Perishable and Dairy sections and, in Poland, we use reusable plastic crates to pack and transport small electronic equipment. In Colombia, we have reusable shipping crates for bottled water and fresh fruit and vegetables.
Recycling bins are available in our stores for our customers. The following results were of note in 2017: