Albert Heijn supermarket addresses throwaway culture with in-store refill stations

13 Apr 2022 --- Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn is launching an in-store refill concept enabling customers to fill a reusable bag or jar with a product – like muesli, pasta, spreads, tea and nuts – to reduce disposable packaging and associated waste.

Customers are invited to fill their own reusable packaging or buy a reusable jar or bag in-store. The refill point is six meters wide and includes smart dispensers.

“We have already saved a lot of packaging material in recent years by adapting our products. Now we would also like to start the movement towards less disposable packaging together with our customers,” Anoesjka Aspeslagh, senior manager for external communications at Albert Heijn, tells PackagingInsights.

“We think that customers are ready for a different, new way of shopping where they bring their own packaging because your own packaging is ultimately the most [environmentally] sustainable.”

The packaging-free range consists of 70 products, from breakfast cereals and spreads to ingredients for dinner such as pasta and rice. About 80% of the range (55 products) is organic, including a number of special products such as Fonio (an African grain) and organic coffee beans.

Customers first weigh the packaging without the product, then fit it with a product of choice, and then print a label with which they can pay at the checkout. 

Customers are invited to fill their own reusable packaging or buy a reusable jar or bag in-store. Sparking consumer enthusiasm
To make shoppers enthusiastic about the reusable system, the retailer says tags are displayed on packaged products in-store, such as nuts and rice, to remind customers that these products are also available without packaging.

“On the one hand, I think customers are more open to it now than they were a few years ago. On the other hand, we offer customers the choice: they can do some of their shopping without packaging and do the rest as they are used to. That lowers the threshold to give it a try,” says Aspeslagh.

The Albert Heijn XL in Rotterdam will introduce the refill concept. After that, customers will also be able to shop without packaging at another fifty stores in the coming year. 

“We have just started a week in Rotterdam and will look at what can be improved in the coming period. For example, we notice that it is sometimes not immediately clear to customers how it works and that the system can be adjusted here and there to ensure that the ingredients come out of the dispensers more easily. We will also look into whether the range of products needs to be adjusted,” explains Aspeslagh.

For the introduction, Albert Heijn is working together with SUPZero, an organization that guides companies in the transition to waste-free concepts. 

The refill point is six meters wide and includes smart dispensers.Reducing product waste
Marit van Egmond, Albert Heijn’s CEO, says the supermarket encourages a healthy lifestyle and continuously checks whether it can use less packaging material. “You can also grab exactly the amount you need. In this way, together we ensure less waste and less wastage,” she adds.

Elisah Pals, founder of Zero Waste Netherlands, supports Albert Heijn's initiative: “We have to move away from the throwaway society. Separating waste at home is great, avoiding it when shopping is even better. That is a direct environmental benefit. I hope that we will soon be able to do packaging-free shopping in more stores.” 

Albert Heijn wants to use twenty million kilos less packaging material by 2025. All own-brand packaging must also be 100% recyclable by then. In recent years, almost ten million kilos of packaging material have been saved by using no, less or different material.

In similar news, The Refill Coalition has brought together leading UK retailers to pioneer scalable refill solutions, including an “industry-first” bulk home delivery model.

By Natalie Schwertheim

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