K-Supermarket Ratina invests in sustainable consumption solutions – introducing returnable shopping bags!
The desire to make sustainable choices is one of the growing trends in the consumer world. K-Supermarket Ratina wants to help its customers make decisions that follow their values – you can now pack your groceries in a returnable reusable bag!
K-Supermarket Ratina is the first store in the Tampere region in Finland to start using returnable shopping bags. “We want to offer our customers the opportunity to take their groceries home while causing as little harm to the environment as possible,” says Marko Laaksonen, the retailer at Ratina. The bags are manufactured and maintained by Lindström.
In addition to returnable bags, the store also provides other sustainable consumer solutions, such as deposit-based returnable juice bottles and lunch boxes made from recycled materials. “We want to act as an example to others by providing a diverse range of sustainable consumption solutions,” says Laaksonen.
Reusing bags saves natural resources
Returnable bags can be redeemed from the check-out for a deposit of 6 euros that will be given back to the customer once they return the bag to the store. “The returnable bag has a number of positive features. It is safe and durable, and it can be returned to the store whenever the customer chooses. This way, the bag does not end up in the trash or sitting around gathering dust,” says Laaksonen.
The bags returned to the store are washed and maintained in Lindström’s laundry, after which they are returned to the loop. “By recycling high-quality bags from one customer to another, we are saving natural resources and acting in accordance with the principles of sustainable development,” Laaksonen says. The goal is to keep the lifespan of the bags at maximum and the carbon footprint at minimum.
The bags can also be returned to K-Supermarket Hertta
Early in the year, K-Supermarket Hertta in Helsinki introduced returnable shopping bags with the aim of saving up to one million plastic bags a year. Ratina and Hertta have a mutual agreements that makes it possible to return bags from both stores to either one of them.
Returnable bags are available from the store from this week onwards. Laaksonen believes that customers will welcome the deposit bags: “I believe that consumers are excited about the fact that even the store assumes responsibility for sustainable consumption. However, time will tell how many of them choose to start using a returnable bag.”
