150 million bottles, jars and aluminum cans have already been returned in Lidl stores

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 11. 21. 11:46

Lidl Hungary has reached a milestone in its new return system. The number of plastic bottles, aluminum cans for drinks and soft drinks, and glass bottles returned has exceeded 150 million. Sustainability and the protection of our environment are of paramount importance to the company, which is why it strives to support its customers in this. This is also confirmed by the fact that since January 1, 2024, almost every fourth recyclable waste dropped off at REpont nationwide has been returned by customers to one of the 210 stores of the market-leading supermarket chain.

As a responsible company, Lidl Hungary places special emphasis on environmental protection and sustainability. In this spirit, it was among the first to implement the legally mandatory bottle return system in its national store network since January 1. Since the operation of REpont machines is mandatory in all grocery stores larger than 400 square meters, the discount chain offers returns to anyone in all 210 stores. The company is constantly striving to provide the best solution for its customers, so it has installed the largest capacity beverage packaging return equipment in its stores compared to its capabilities, with at least one return equipment per store, and in some stores up to three return equipment.

According to the store chain, more than 150 million returnable beverage packaging were collected at the REponts located in Lidl Hungary stores. The company’s summary also revealed that customers returned more bottles to the stores than Lidl sold deposit-based products, so overall, almost every fourth bottle was returned by customers to one of the stores of the market-leading retail chain in Hungary.

“As a market leader and responsible company, we want to be at the forefront in every area and set an example. Sustainability is also a particularly important topic for Lidl, which we are trying to promote with a number of measures and objectives. The bottle return system is key to protecting our environment, and we are proud to have collected more than 150 million aluminum beverage cans, glass and plastic bottles so far. This means that nearly 220 thousand bags of recyclable waste weighing approximately 7.5 million kilograms have been transported from our REpoints so far. Our goal is to make the process even faster and smoother for our customers, thus increasing the return capacity in more of our stores, which overall represents an investment of billions.

– said Judit Tőzsér, the company’s head of communications.