Halle, Belgium, 2016-Aug-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Colruyt Group has managed to recycle an increasing share of its industrial waste, leaving less and less residual waste. In the first six months of 2016, the recycling rate has risen to a record 82.1%, which is an increase of more than two percent over six months ago. In reality, this means that for every thousand kilos of industrial waste, 821 kilos are recycled. With this, we have already surpassed the 80% recycling target that was our goal for 2017.
Sorting at the source
These improved recycling results are mainly due to the type of sorting at the source, i.e. by the store employees. For example, the Colruyt stores made a special effort in the spring to sort the fermentable waste and the bread waste even better, thereby sending back 700 tonnes less residual waste. “We had a very strong information campaign for this, and it’s amazing to see how well the store employees picked it up. Now all we have to do is keep it up, so we’re supplying even more nifty sorting tips”, says Francoise Decoster at the environmental department.
Food Banks
Another positive point is that food waste has decreased considerably. Since the spring of this year, fourteen stores in Belgium have been donating their unsellable yet still perfectly edible foods directly to local organisations, overseen by the Food Banks. This way, between 2 and 3 tonnes of food per store per month were donated.
Francoise Decoster: “That means that less food surplus is returned to our distribution centres to be fermented. In and of itself, fermentation has its use, because it generates green energy. But using the food surplus for human consumption is even better.”
Second sorting
Finally, the percentage of residual waste will continue to decrease thanks to new sorting installations in Colruyt Group’s return centres, where the residual waste of all the stores, manufacturing and distribution centres, and office buildings is collected. There, this residual waste is once again thoroughly sorted in order to extract recyclables such as plastic, hard plastic, cardboard, wood, metal, and glass.
For more information, please visit simplysustain
Contact:
Patti Verdoodt
press@colruytgroup.com
+32 (0)2 363 55 45
+32 (0)473 92 45 10
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- Colruyt Group updates on its recycling initiatives
Source: Colruyt Group