Sustainable supermarket: no packaging

The garbage produced by the population around the world is one of the great problems of humanity today. In addition to generating enormous environmental impacts, garbage represents an important social problem in large urban centers.

According to data from the 2014 Panorama of Solid Waste in Brazil carried out by ABRELPE (Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies), each Brazilian generated, in 2014, 388 kg of solid waste. This represents an increase of about 2% in relation to the previous year, an index higher than the population growth in the same period, which was 0,9%. The National Solid Waste Policy aims at the correct disposal of collected waste, with the reduction of open dumps and the implementation of more sanitary landfills. However, in 2014, around 30 thousand tons (42% of the total collected) still had an inadequate final destination.

To face the problem, some companies have taken a series of measures, such as the implementation of reverse logistics and innovations in their processes to reduce waste generation. In this context, a German start-up stands out. Launched in 2014, Original Unverpackt is a sustainable supermarket that offers its customers zero waste generation. She achieves this by selling products without packaging! Everything in the store is sold in bulk and consumers must bring their glass containers or reusable bags. And the number of SKUs is not small: the market sells everything from food and beverages to cleaning and personal care products. In addition to being ecological, selling in bulk allows customers to take whatever quantity they want, an interesting advantage over packaged products.

Logistics is certainly one of the challenges for the project proposal. For the time being, the variety of suppliers is limited locally, due to positioning and logistical issues, as transporting some products without packaging to retail is not trivial. In addition, the OU is small, so the volumes to supply its stocks are also small, leading to a division of the bulk cargo that limits the supply to small partners.

With all this (pertinent) concern for more sustainable operations, it may be that, in the near future, legislation imposes a reduction in the waste generated by supermarkets, as occurred in the case of plastic bags. If larger retail chains were to adopt this model in bulk, major logistical changes would be required. The CD's, for example, would have to adapt and install silos for the storage of products. New equipment would be needed to carry out loading and unloading, both at the DC and at the POS. The technology used today to control products on receipt and dispatch, which depends on bar codes and, therefore, on packaging, would be inadequate. Product transport should also be reconfigured, with vehicles adapted to transport a high variety of products without packaging. Still, the replacement on the gondolas would also need to be reviewed. And all these processes meet health surveillance standards, avoiding possible contamination of products. Anyway, the initiative of the Original Underpackt is commendable, but not easily scalable. If this retail model succeeds, it will be up to supply chain managers to adapt their businesses to the enormous challenges created by this new reality.