SPAR Denmark is active in many areas of environmental protection, including food waste, plastic reduction instore, and customer education on how to act more eco-conscious. SPAR Denmark also sponsors the national Ren Natur waste collection tours, and recently, one of these tours was attended by Lea Wermelin, Danish Minister for the Environment and Richo Boss, CEO of SPAR Denmark. They both underlined the importance of initiatives like this to ensure a more eco-friendly future.

Waste collection tours

For the second year in a row, SPAR Denmark is the main sponsor of Ren Natur (Clean Nature), a national environmental organisation. Ren Natur has three key missions: facilitating waste collection in local communities, supporting local charities, and boosting environmental protection. The project is organised nationwide but carried out through local operations. The collection tours run from April to October. Since SPAR Denmark is one of the three main sponsors, the route often starts, finishes, or passes by a SPAR store.

The waste collection tour attended by the Danish Minister for the Environment Lea Wermelin and SPAR Denmark‘s CEO Richo Boss started at SPAR retailer Steffen Rostgaard’s local store in Karrebæksminde and continued through the entire town. Lea Wermelin gave a helping hand and highlighted that organisations like SPAR can make a real difference to protect the environment. Richo Boss is delighted that SPAR can contribute to environmental protection through the Ren Natur project: “It is important to SPAR Denmark to protect the environment and support local communities. By collecting local waste, we positively contribute to the environment exactly where we want to. We can also make a difference in the neighbourhoods of our SPAR customers.”

Food waste reduction

To reduce food waste, SPAR Denmark lowers the prices of food products approaching the expiration date. In this way, SPAR avoids large quantities of food being thrown away, and at the same time price- and environmentally conscious customers can purchase perfectly good food products at discounted prices.

Tips for eco-conscious consumers

Through its easy meal plan, SPAR Denmark supports customers plan food purchases leading to less food waste.  Published on SPAR Denmark’s website, the 5-week meal plans consist of healthy and varied recipes that can be prepared within 30-60 minutes as well as shopping lists with all ingredients. Customers can also select the meals and use the shopping list to have the local SPAR store to collect all the ingredients and pick up the order instore.

To inspire customers to contribute to environmental protection when shopping for groceries, SPAR Denmark communicates climate tips for consumers. These tips contain valuable and practical advice on how to act more eco-friendly.

• Follow government-recommended dietary guidelines
• Eat less meat in your weekly diet
• Follow the season and eat locally produced fruit and vegetables
• Avoid food waste
• Shop locally
• Drink tap water rather than bottled water

Plastic reduction through recycled plastic bags

SPAR Denmark focuses strongly on plastic reduction. Plastic bags available in SPAR stores since 2017 are made of 70-80% recycled plastic. The high-quality plastic bags can be reused several times. An alternative to plastic bags is the nylon net sold in many SPAR stores in Denmark which can be repeatedly used.

Source: SPAR Denmark

Read more news from SPAR Denmark.

About SPAR Denmark

SPAR Denmark was founded in 1954 when Danish retail company, Dagrofa, was granted a licence to operate the brand in the market. In 2013, the NorgesGruppen purchase of 49% of the Dagrofa Group was approved. This led to a major restructuring of the retail business, with a focus placed on strengthening the SPAR Brand in Denmark.

SPAR Denmark has more than 130 supermarkets spread across the country, positioning itself as the largest independent retail chain in the market. Its headquarters are located in Ringsted.