Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic

The report finds that European supermarkets generally exhibit low transparency and ambition regarding plastic reduction, with an overall average score of 13.1%. Most retailers rely on voluntary commitments and recyclability rather than waste prevention and reuse systems. While some UK retailers show higher performance, there is significant inconsistency in policies across international retail groups, and some companies are accused of greenwashing through ineffective recycling schemes that result in waste being exported and dumped in third countries like Turkey.

• European supermarkets demonstrate very low overall performance in addressing plastic pollution, with an average score of 13.1% across transparency, commitments, and government policy support. Only two companies, Aldi in the UK (65.3%) and Aldi in Ireland (61%), scored above 60%.
• Transparency regarding plastic footprints is critically low; 82% of evaluated companies failed to provide basic information about their plastic footprint, making their quantitative commitments difficult to verify due to a lack of baselines.
• Retailers show minimal ambition toward reuse and refill systems. The average score for pledges to increase refillable or reusable packaging was only 3.3%, and no company scored above 40% in the packaging reusability section. BioCoop in France was the only company to provide detailed data, stating 34% of its products were sold in bulk, refillable, or reusable packaging.
• Support for mandatory government policies is low. Only five retailers (Aldi Ireland, Aldi Denmark, Aldi UK, Lidl UK, and BioCoop in France) strongly support an all-inclusive beverage deposit return system (DRS). Only Alnatura in Germany supports binding government targets for refillable and reusable packaging.
• The report identifies greenwashing practices where supermarkets promote recycling for unrecyclable materials. Specifically, in-store soft plastic collection schemes by Tesco and Sainsburys in the UK involved a contractor that exported waste to Turkey, where it was found to be illegally dumped and burned.

APA

Changing Markets Foundation (2022). Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Under-wraps_EX-SUM_-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Changing Markets Foundation. Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic. 2022. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Under-wraps_EX-SUM_-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Changing Markets Foundation |title=Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic |date=May 2022 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Under-wraps_EX-SUM_-FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{changingmarketsfoundation2022under, author = {{Changing Markets Foundation}}, title = {{Under wraps? What Europe’s supermarkets aren’t telling us about plastic}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Under-wraps_EX-SUM_-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }