Materials used and reduction initiatives

Main materials used

In 2023, total material consumption increased 7.1% in absolute terms, due mainly to the increase in the sale of Private Brand products. However, compared to 2022, material consumption in tonnes per million euros in sales decreased 11.2%.

Also in 2023, service and Private Brand product packaging incorporated 43.7% of recycled materials (1.0 p.p. more than in 2022), particularly paper and cardboard, plastic and glass. Paper and cardboard packaging contains 82% recycled materials. In total, around 220,000 tonnes of recycled materials were used, 10.5% more than in the previous year.

Single-Use Plastics (SUP)

In the specific case of plastic, we have made several voluntary commitments as a result of our pledge to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and our participation in the Portuguese Plastics Pact, the Polish Plastics Pact (through Biedronka), the Colombian Plastics Pact (through Ara), and in The Consumer Goods Forum’s Plastic Waste Coalition of Action. These commitments were defined with the aim of reducing the input and output of resources used, ensuring the promotion of circularity, by following a waste management hierarchy: reduction, reuse and recycling.

Accordingly, by 2025 we undertake to:

• ensure that all Private Brand plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable;
• incorporate at least 25% of recycled content in Private Brand plastic packaging;
• reduce specific plastic consumption by 10%, compared to 2018, measured in tonnes of plastic packaging per million euros of turnover;
• reduce virgin plastic used in Private Brand packaging by 15%, compared to 2018.

Regarding single-use plastics (SUP), consumption increased 11.6% compared to 2022. In 2023, plastic made up 35.7% of the materials used in the four packaging categories (Private Brand, service, check-out bags and pallet wrapping film¹). Of the total plastic used, 19,713 tonnes were recycled plastic, representing 10.7% of the SUP in these categories, thus enabled us to achieve another target: by 2023, increase to 10% the recycled plastic content of all the plastic packaging we are responsible for.

In terms of the use of virgin plastic, consumption increased 9.9% compared to 2022. This figure is now 4.0% higher than in the reference year (2018). In recent years, market conditions for collecting packaging waste and the amount of recycled plastic available for reincorporation into new packaging, especially those used for food, have changed little in the countries where our Companies are located.

For this reason, it will be difficult to achieve the related commitments by 2025, that is, ensuring the incorporation of at least 25% recycled plastic in plastic packaging and reducing the use of virgin plastic by 15%. We achieved a 33% reduction in plastic consumption (measured in tonnes per million euros in sales) compared to 2018, in line with our commitment for 2021-2023 (5% by 2023).

By applying the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Recyclability Assessment Tool methodology, we have concluded that 42% of the plastic packaging of our Private Brand products is recyclable (0.2 p.p. more than in 2022). This figure considers the different polymers and plastic packaging formats, and the existence and effectiveness of sorting and recycling systems in the countries where we have operations.

Although our Companies have successfully completed numerous mono-material packaging projects, there are still no sorting solutions for some flows (e.g., multi-layer polypropylene flexible plastics and hard polystyrene packages), even where a recycling industry has been set up. Because of this, some plastic packaging formats are still classified as “non-recyclable” according to the aforementioned methodology, even where sorting and downcycling² circuits exist locally, as is the case in Poland and in Portugal. To increase the recyclability of the plastic packaging of our Private Brands, we have been eliminating problematic components (e.g., PVC and EPS polymers) that hinder recycling or reduce the quality and value of the recycled material. In line with our commitment, these components were eliminated from 91.8% of our packaging in 2023, 1.2 p.p. more than in 2022.

¹ Excluding rubbish bags and other SUP that are not packages.

² Recycling process whereby the resulting materials are of an inferior quality to the original ones, so that the same products with the same quality cannot be manufactured, only those that require lower quality material.