SPAR Austria is testing an alternative to plastic bags: a polyester net with a drawstring for loose fruit or vegetables, which is washable and environmentally friendly.
The reusable bag is available as a four-pack in all INTERSPAR hypermarkets in the country for €1.49 ($2.33). Each bag can carry up to eight pieces of fruit or vegetables. Starting with the sixth use, the reusable bag saves material and therefore CO2 in comparison with conventional fruit bags.
This is not a first for SPAR Austria, who have tested alternatives to fruit and vegetable bags before. In 2014, it offered lightweight organic bags, some of which were made of bioplastic. In 2016, customers were able to pack fruit and vegetables in paper bags. These options, however, were both impractical and resulted in no significant CO2 savings. It’s hoped that the new measures will bring some real benefits to the environment.
It’s not just fruit and vegetable packaging that the SPAR partner is concerned about, though. Attention is being paid to environmentally-friendly packaging in all product ranges – for example, SPAR Austria changed the packaging of SPAR sandwiches from plastic to cardboard, helping to save 22 tonnes of plastic per year.