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, often relying on voluntary commitments and recycling-focused strategies rather than systemic reuse. An analysis of 74 retailers reveals an average total score of only 13.1%, with significant disparities in performance between different countries where the same retail chains operate. The document highlights tactics used by retailers to delay legislative progress, such as lobbying against deposit return systems (DRS), and criticizes 'greenwashing' practices, including the mislabeling of single-use plastics as reusable.

• European supermarkets show very low overall performance in addressing plastic pollution, with an average total score of 13.1% across transparency, commitments, and policy support. Only two companies exceeded 60%: Aldi in the UK (65.3%) and Aldi in Ireland (61%).
• Transparency regarding plastic footprints is severely lacking; 82% of evaluated companies did not provide basic information about their plastic footprint, making it difficult to establish baselines for their quantitative commitments.
• Retailers prioritize recycling and recyclability over waste prevention and reuse. Pledges to increase refillable or reusable packaging scored an average of only 3.3% of available points, while recycled content commitments averaged 32.3%.
• There is a significant lack of consistency in how international retail groups apply plastic policies across different countries. For example, Aldi scored over 60% in the UK and Ireland but only 11% in Austria (operating as Hofer).
• Supermarkets are identified as major lobby groups against the implementation of all-inclusive deposit return systems (DRS). Only five of the 74 retailers analyzed provided strong support for such systems.
• The report identifies 'greenwashing' practices, such as Mercadona rebranding single-use plastic cava glasses as 'reusable' because they can be washed, and UK supermarkets using in-store soft plastic collection schemes that resulted in waste being exported and illegally dumped in Turkey.
• Retailers in the UK performed better on average (39.6%) than those in other countries, which the report attributes to sustained pressure and annual reporting by the EIA and Greenpeace UK since 2017.

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_FULL-REPORT_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_FULL-REPORT_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_FULL-REPORT_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_FULL-REPORT_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }