French supermarket chain Carrefour has signed the national pact to phase out plastic packaging across its stores by 2025 at the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

The national pact aims to prevent more than 140t of plastic being used per year.

The company joins other companies who signed the pact, including Auchan Retail France, Biscuits Bouvard, Carrefour, Coca-Cola European Partners, Danone, L’Oréal, LSDH, Nestlé France, and Unilever.

The supermarket chain is planning to replace traditional polystyrene trays using cardboard trays in its cheese sections. The move is expected to save 111t of plastic this year.

The company will also stop packaging its organic fair-trade bananas in plastic sachets, which is expected to save at least 23t of plastic every year.

“The national pact aims to prevent more than 140t of plastic being used per year.”

Carrefour plans to introduce elastic bands to hold the bananas across all stores in France between March and September. The company aims to make these bands using paper in the future.

The retailer is planning to phase out plastic films enveloping the cucumbers sold across its stores by next March. It will replace plastic films by bands and expects to save approximately 6.5t of plastic per year.

Starting next March, the retailer is planning to ask customers to bring their own containers to buy fish, butchery / cooked meats, cheese, delicatessen and pastry.

The company will also allow customers to purchase and reuse organic cotton bags to carry fruit and vegetables while shopping across its stores in the next few weeks.

(From www.imfa.com)