Plastic recycling: Migros launches offensive
For Migros, it is nothing less than a "new era in sustainability". Switzerland's largest retailer is introducing a new collection bag that can be used to collect virtually all plastic packaging. This is intended to close the plastic cycle.
Migros will set up the first collection points in Migros stores from June 29. The Migros Lucerne cooperative will make the start. At the end of August, the cooperatives of Geneva, Neuchâtel-Fribourg, Vaud and Valais will join them. The orange giant expects all Migros cooperatives to offer the plastic collection points by 2021.
At the start, not all of the participating cooperatives' stores are on board, partly because structural measures are required. Partner companies such as Migrolino and Voi are also part of the project.
The collection bag consists of 85 percent recycled raw materials and is available in three sizes (17, 35 and 60 liters). However, it is not free of charge. The price is between 90 centimes and 2.50 Franconia. But Migros does not make a profit with it.
PET bottles will continue to be collected separately. Migros also takes back plastic waste from other retailers. A cooperation with Coop and Co. does not currently exist.
Also not wanted are bottles with contents or heavily soiled packaging. The goal is that 70 percent of the plastic collected can be reused.
Industrial reuse
As Migros writes in a media release, leading plastic recyclers in Switzerland were enlisted for the project. The collected material is first sorted by the company Innorecycling. Innoplastics then recycles the plastic and produces granulates.
These, in turn, are to be used in the Migros industry. In this way, new packaging for Migros products is created from old plastic.
