One of the Netherlands’ major supermarket chains, Albert Heijn, has announced that its shops will in future introduce more zero-waste packaging stations for certain products, including pasta, tea and muesli. 

Dutch supermarkets working to cut back on plastic packaging

With more and more zero-waste supermarkets popping up across the Netherlands, demand for sustainable shopping alternatives is growing, and major Dutch supermarkets also appear to be looking to see what they can do to ensure a more environmentally-friendly shopping experience for customers. 

Albert Heijn already has some zero-waste stations for some own-brand food products, such as hagelslag, but this week the supermarket announced it would be moving to introduce more zero-waste options for other products. 

The initiative, dubbed AH Verpakkingsvrij (“AH Packaging-Free”), has been designed to allow customers to “do a large part of their daily shopping more sustainably." It is the latest step in the supermarket’s plan to use 20 million kilograms less packaging material by 2025. 

 Image via Albert Heijn.

Zero-waste shopping at supermarkets in the Netherlands

Customers will be able to bring their own reusable bags and jars from home and refill them when doing their weekly shop. Zero-waste options will be available for a variety of products, “from breakfast cereals and spreads to ingredients for dinner such as pasta and rice,” and around 80 percent of the packaging-free range will be made up of organic products.

These AH Verpakkingsvrij stations will be trialled at Albert Heijn XLs across the country, starting off in Rotterdam before being set up in Amsterdam and Leidschendam. Over the course of the coming year, the supermarket chain aims to establish packaging-free stations at over 50 stores.

“Making better food accessible to everyone - that is what we stand for at Albert Heijn,” said CEO Marit van Egmond. “The great thing about this concept is that customers can simply package products in their own reusable containers, time after time. You can also grab exactly the amount you need - this way, together we ensure less waste.”