Coop for the environment

Géza Tóth
CEO
CO-OP Hungary

Géza Tóth, CEO of Co-op Hungary Zrt.: “Besides image and technological improvement, our store modernisation programme concentrates on four areas: installing glass doors on refrigerators, LED lighting in stores, energy saving cooling and heating systems, and solar panels.” Coop stores are present in 1,480 Hungarian towns and villages, and 225 stores already have solar power operated, domestic-scale power plant systems. Solar panels installed on Coop stores generate 8GWh of electricity a year. Plan is to have 406 stores with solar panels by the end of the year, with a combined capacity of 14 GWh – 8% of the retail chain’s total electricity use.

In 2017 Coop started a nationwide used cooking oil collection programme, and shoppers can now take oil back to 540 stores. So far nearly 600,000 litres were collected and Coop calculates with another 150,000 litres this year. What is more, from September shoppers get HUF 100 coupons instead of the present HUF 80 for every litre of cooking oil returned. Compostable bags, paper bags, shopping boxes, fruit and vegetable nets, and eco-friendly bags for bakery items are now available to customers in almost 300 Coop stores. In 2019 the group started building its e-car charging point network. Currently customers can charge their e-cars at 12 Coop stores, with electricity from 100% renewable sources. Parcel lockers also reduce the ecological footprint of consumers. Since 2021 four delivery service providers installed 80 parcel lockers at Coop, but by the end of the year this number will grow to 300.

Géza Tóth told: they are proud to have been granted Trade magazin’s Symbol of Sustainability trademark for the third time. He explained that for Coop sustainability isn’t only about technology use, but also about prioritising Hungarian food companies and farmers, which can help to preserve jobs and contributes to the sustainability of the sector and Hungarian economy in general. (x)

A kereskedelmi csoport szerint a fogyasztók ökolábnyomát csökkentik a csomagautomaták is, amelyekben a nem élelmiszer típusú inte