One of Europe’s biggest retail chains, Aldi, has opened a brand new ‘green’ supermarket in Royal Leamington Spa, UK, which aims to reduce the average CO2 emissions produced by conventional supermarkets by two-thirds. This shop also includes a module from the Czech company Miwa, which offers zero waste shopping for coffee, nuts, almonds and seeds in reusable containers. This strongly reduces the need for traditional single-use food packaging. The Czech company similarly cooperates, for example, with the largest Dutch chain Albert Heijn and in Czechia with the retail chain Albert.
“For now, this is a pilot cooperation. However, it is very important for us because Aldi has almost one thousand shops in Great Britain alone. The success and implementation in other Aldi supermarkets depend on how customers will react and also how comfortable and efficient our system will be for the store employees. The numbers after the first month of operation look very good.” says Mirek Lizec, Miwa executive director.
“The UK market is a bit further ahead in reusable packaging than, for example, the Dutch or Czech markets. But not by much, the whole field is still in its infancy stage everywhere in Europe. Chains have been testing what will work for them. Public demands regarding green shopping are also increasing, which is gradually reflected in legislative requirements. There is a growing consensus that the mountains of waste associated with single-use packaging are not okay, and food manufacturers and chains must and often want to respond to this.” adds Mirek Lizec.
The first contacts between the British branch of Aldi and Miwa took place a year and a half ago. The pilot cooperation was supposed to start already in autumn 2021, but everything was postponed by covid-19. At Aldi, they tested Miwa’s zero waste solution internally for some time and finally decided to test it in a new supermarket near their UK headquarters. There is one more motivator for customers in addition to environmental reasons: Aldi provides discounts on food sold into customers’ own containers or paper bags.
Miwa’s solution, which has already succeeded in several European retail chains, is based primarily on standardized reusable capsules – circulating between shops, the service centre and manufacturers – and on the maximum use of smart data. One such capsule saves almost 2,000 pieces of single-use packaging during its life cycle. It is also important for retailers that this system does not in any way disturb their existing logistic and operational processes. On the contrary, it brings them an economic and ecological advantage. That is also why Miwa is currently successfully finalizing negotiations with several other supermarket chains in various European countries.
MIWA – Czech company, active on the market since 2016, which developed a system enabling zero waste shopping based on reusable packaging. Miwa’s solution builds on capsules equipped with smart technology and meets the logistic and hygienic requirements of current retail chains and large manufacturers. The company cooperations include, for example, the multinational group Ahold Delhaize, including the Dutch Albert Heijn and Czech Albert. More about the Miwa system in the video HERE.