Retail giants across Europe are promoting false solutions to the plastic pollution crisis and perpetuating double standards, a new investigation has found. The overall average score achieved by retailers was only 13.1 out of 100, according to a specially designed ranking developed by the Changing Markets Foundation.
The report: The analysis of the role European supermarkets play in addressing plastic pollution, Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic, has revealed a near-complete lack of ambition across three categories of questions on the topics of: transparency and performance, commitments, and support for government policy.
The report is a result of collaboration of over 20 NGOs, members of the Break Free from Plastic movement, from across Europe.
The scores: Of 130 retailers contacted, only 39 retailers (30%) provided a written response to the coalition’s questionnaire, but many of the responses did not provide meaningful replies. A further analysis of 74 retailers across 13 countries revealed a concerning lack of actions to tackle the plastic crisis.
- Even within supermarkets performing well in the UK, the report uncovered double standards for brands with international operations extending across Europe.
- Lidl, a brand from the biggest European retail group Schwarz with €125.3 billion turnover in 2020, achieved 44.7% in the UK whilst only achieving between 13% and 23.7% in other countries such as Germany and the Czech Republic.
- Aldi Süd was the top performer in the UK and Ireland, with 65.3% and 61% respectively, but it only achieved 11% in Austria, where it operates under the name Hofer, and 25.7% in Germany. Aldi is the second biggest retailer in Europe with €106.3 billion turnover.
- Retailers from the UK and France scored 39.6% and 23.3% respectively. No other country achieved a total average of more than 20%. The average score achieved by retailers in Spain, the Czech Republic and Estonia was below 10%.
- The analysis also show that such abysmal results do not have to remain the reality. Combining the best responses to each question created a fictional “best-in-class” retailer with the total score of 82.7%.
- With a €2.4 trillion turnover, the retail sector has the resources to act, and public opinion polls consistently show that citizens firmly believe retailers have a responsibility to address plastic pollution.
The backdrop: WRAP had recently reported that more than one-third of UK plastic packaging was not recyclable and only 5% was reusable. Instead of investing in systemic solutions, the Under wraps report revealed that supermarkets have been promoting false solutions, such as in-store flexible plastic take-back schemes.
Plastic packaging waste that was marketed as being “recycled”, was often exported to countries that have much fewer resources to deal with this problem, and previous investigations have revealed that exported waste was dumped in nature.
What they said
Our report shows that even the best performers, such as Aldi and Lidl have double standards, when it comes to addressing the plastic crisis. They performed well in the UK and Ireland, but show abysmal results in Spain, Germany and other countries where they operate.
—Nusa Urbancic
Campaigns Director
Changing Markets Foundation
A number of the supermarkets included in this report are public companies and as such they have legal obligations to be transparent about their performance on plastics. But crucially, disclosure obligations are going to become much stricter for all companies in the coming years. That's why those at the bottom of the ranking need to start preparing now to be able to adapt to tomorrow's legal environment.
—Rosa Pritchard
ClientEarth
