Steadfast commitment to reducing waste

In order to conserve raw materials and energy, Migros aims to avoid waste and to close material cycles. The company has developed an elaborate recycling system for its internal waste. Around 70% of the approximately 215'000 tonnes of operating waste is recycled every year. It is especially important to the company that it does not destroy any food. At present, Migros is also focusing strongly on reducing or optimising its packaging material. A large proportion of the operating waste is recycled, including almost all organic waste. In addition, Migros operates Switzerland's largest return system for customers. Despite the pleasing recovery rates, the specialists at Migros are constantly looking for new ways to reduce waste even further. The company is also dedicated to fighting littering.

Charts on quantity of operational waste

Reducing food waste

Thanks to careful requirements planning, Migros is able to offer its customers fresh products until the shops close, while also minimising food waste. Last year, an internal project group determined where and how much food waste there is in the Migros stores and food outlets. The analysis showed that in 2011, 98.6% of all food offered by Migros was actually used for its intended purpose, i.e. it was sold, or offered to staff at a reduced price before its use-by date. Furthermore, the regional cooperatives have been working together with aid organisation such as «Tischlein deck dich», «Schweizer Tafel» and «Partage» for many years now in order to supply impoverished people with food that is still fresh. Some of these partnerships were intensified in 2012. For example, the Migros Cooperative Geneva not only increased its food supply to «Partage», but now also offers training courses for the aid organisation's employees. The Migros Cooperative Neuchâtel-Fribourg has been supporting «Schweizer Tafel» since 2012. Thanks to such efforts, only 1.4% of food waste at Migros was not used as food in 2011: 1.1% becomes animal feed or compost, or is processed into biofuel in fermentation plants. Only 0.3% is incinerated.

Charts on components and recycling of operational waste

Chart on disposal processes

Less packaging

In the past two years, Migros has systematically scrutinised its packaging and reduced it or replaced it with more environmentally-friendly material wherever possible. To this end, it calculated numerous life cycle assessments and made improvements in many areas. For example, the introduction of the Shorty closure on PET bottles saved 181 tonnes of material. But despite many improvements, Migros has still not reached its main goal entirely. In 2010, it set itself the aim of reducing the environmental footprint of the packaging for its 250 best-selling products of 2011 by 10% before the end of 2012. It fell just short at 7.15%. However, it did make significant strides in the remaining product range: by the end of 2012, it managed to save 1'360 tonnes of material and to use around 1'300 tonnes of recycled material and 3'780 tonnes of FSC cardboard.

Collection system expanded

Migros' return system for empty containers, used packaging and products is the largest in Switzerland. PET drinks bottles make up the majority of these items. In 2012 Migros customers returned 240 million PET bottles. Migros wishes to maintain this high returns rate and retain top position in PET recycling in Switzerland. Migros is also the only retailer in Switzerland to take back CDs and DVDs. The recycling system for used data carriers was expanded to all stores in the country last year. The company aims to collect and recycle five tonnes of CDs and DVDs by the end of 2015. Migros also became the first Swiss retailer to commit itself to taking back and recycling all plastic bottles from the household area together with milk bottles. It will complete the necessary adaptations to its collection points before the end of 2013.

Chart on customer returns

Fighting against litter – voluntarily

Migros attaches great importance to clean public spaces. It has been supporting private and public initiatives against littering for many years now. For example, in 2012 it took part in the first Clean-up-Day in Adliswil. In Bern, Migros Take Away started a pilot project aimed at preventing packaging waste. Instead of disposable tableware, customers could obtain reusable boxes and cups free of charge, which could then be refilled on their next visit. The 1000 reusable boxes that were made available were all taken within just a few weeks. In addition to helping the environment, the project is also kind on the wallet: thanks to the introduction of a customer loyalty card, customers who use the reusable tableware get every eleventh coffee or every eleventh meal/sandwich free.

Migros' actions demonstrate its voluntary commitment against littering, which is in stark contrast to the federal court judgement from the start of last year. As a result of this judgement, the cities and municipalities are now developing a littering fee – especially the city of Bern, whose litter regulation from 2005 gave rise to a legal dispute with retail. Despite the federal court judgement, Migros believes that cooperative and voluntary solutions which suit the particular circumstances make more sense than enforced fees. For this reason, it fervently recommenced the stalled discussions with the cantonal administration in the city of Basel – with the objective of continuing and promoting effective voluntary measures against littering.