Why don’t you simply abolish plastic?

We asked 11 direct questions to Hanna Krayer, Senior Sustainability Project Leader and plastics expert at Migros.

1. Ms Krayer, according to the Federal Office for the Environment, in this country we use around 125 kilogrammes of plastic per person per year. That adds up to a total of around one million tonnes. It’s an extremely high figure compared to other countries around the world – and places a major burden on the environment. Why doesn’t Migros simply abolish plastic packaging?

Plastic has its benefits, also for the environment. For example, if you package a kilogramme of rice in thin film packaging, it weighs around six to seven times less than a cardboard carton would. This has an effect on transportation and emissions, and thus on the CO2 footprint..

2. But is it really necessary to wrap cucumbers in plastic?

(laughs) I get asked this question a lot. Cucumbers are made up of around 95 per cent water. The more time a cucumber spends on the road, the more of it gets lost. Its shelf life can be made around five times longer by using plastic film. As a rule of thumb, this means a shelf life of three days without plastic film, as against 15 days with a plastic film..

3. Isn’t plastic packing used too much, generally speaking?

We try to sell products loose as much as possible. But we’ve noticed that food waste increases for some types of fruit and vegetables if we try and sell them without packaging. That occurs for broccoli and salad as well as cucumbers. Plastic provides valuable protection for anything with a high water content that needs to be crisp. Sometimes what feels sustainable and what actually is sustainable are two different things.

4. Why aren’t there any better alternatives to plastic packaging?

We can use plastic, for example, to make wafer-thin sheets weighting less than 10 grammes, which can protect a 1-kilogramme product. The material is extremely efficient and also offers high product protection. That’s the main purpose of packaging. The key thing is that we recycle plastic, even though it’s not easy. For example, a PET bottle has to be recycled differently from a PE milk bottle or a polystyrene yoghurt pot.

Our Recycling Guide shows you how to separate waste correctly!

5. 80,000 tonnes of plastic are recycled every year in Switzerland. That accounts for only around one tenth of the quantity used. Shouldn’t we be doing better?

This figure relates to plastic in general, and not only packaging. It includes a whole range of things that we don’t keep in our range. We have relatively high recycling rates in the packaging sector. The proportion of PET drinks bottles that are recycled is higher than 80 per cent. The figure for PE bottles is around 50 per cent. These are good figures.

6. In 2020 Migros started trialling plastic collection bags. The project has been gradually expanded since then. Shouldn’t there have been something like that a lot sooner?

It’s easy to ask questions like that in retrospect. The fact is that Migros was the first company in Switzerland to launch a project of this type. Making the bags available in shops and setting up return points there is the easy part. The biggest problem is honouring our promise of recycling 70 per cent of the plastic collected. In order for this to happen, the existing recycling infrastructure in Switzerland would, for example, have to be expanded. It’s a challenge, but we’re moving forward as fast as we can.

7. A roll of 10 plastic collection bags costs CHF 9. Surely the success rate would be higher if the bags were free?

Migros is investing a lot in this new recycling system. However, our aim is not to earn a profit but rather to close the plastic cycle and run a collection operation that covers its own costs. As a result, we also regularly check the costs of Migros plastic collection bags. At the moment, in most Swiss municipalities this is cheaper than a chargeable rubbish bag. However, recycling only works if we collect high-quality items. This means that our plastic collection bags should only contain plastic packaging, and not, for example, plastic toys or clothes made from synthetic materials.

8. As you mentioned, PET recycling works very well. However, PET is also plastic and thus made from oil. Wouldn’t a deposit system for glass bottles make more sense?

If one compares their respective life cycle assessments, PET bottles come out much better than glass bottles. This is especially the case if they are produced 100 per cent from R-PET, such as our Aproz bottles. Glass is heavy. The further it has to be transported, the more of a problem it is . The same also applies for returnable glass, if transported over long distances. Thanks to the M-Check, we can see how environmentally friendly packaging is.

9. At Easter, Migros sold Frey chocolate bunnies in 100 per cent recyclable packaging for the first time. The are made mainly from potato starch, a waste product generated during production of French fries. Why isn’t everything packaged using that?

Products have different protection requirements. This means that there’s no single packaging that works for everything. Our Easter bunny packaging is highly innovative, but would be unsuitable for lots of other products. However, we are looking at where else it can be used. We have also developed similar packaging for CoffeeB. The protective wrappers used for individual balls can be used as garden compost. The packaging in which balls are sold can be disposed of along with waste cardboard..

10. Lots of people get annoyed with the littering and waste plastic associated with takeaway packaging. Are retailers doing enough to deal with this?

The grab-and-go culture is a fact of life, and a major customer demand. Also, Migros isn’t solely responsible for this. I see lots of potential in reusable bowls. For example, we have established a partnership with reCIRCLE. Whenever Migros sells bowl food, it provides it in these reusable bowls. They can be returned at lots of locations, even others than Migros. You can also bring along your own mug to fill up with coffee at Migros takeaways.

11. Where is there scope for further gains at Migros – and elsewhere in the retail trade – on the plastic front?

The ideal scenario as far as I’m concerned would be one where, sometime in the future, we buy things mainly in returnable packaging. And I mean absolutely everything, wherever feasible. But we all need to do our bit for this to happen. Retailers can’t do this on their own, as customers actually need to return the returnable packaging. We have also expanded our unpackaged food points for organic foods – and will expand them even further in future. What we have to do now is to use them more..

Plastic-free parties

When planning a garden party or a summer party it feels like the natural choice to provide single-use tableware. Since the end of 2020, these products have no longer been plastic at Migros, but are rather made from cardboard, wood, palm leaves or bioplastic. This means we can avoid 577 tonnes of plastic waste every year.

Find out more about plastic-free single-use tableware and cutlery