Kaufland and Zero Waste Certification
Following the publication of the article "Kaufland, Zero Waste certified?! Here's what the retailer is hiding from us" Kaufland Romania requests the publication of the right of reply, reproduced in full below:
"We wish to clarify the information in the public domain and emphasize that the certification obtained by Kaufland is called "Zero Waste". We do not claim the status of a zero-waste company. What we do and what we commit to is to reduce our environmental impact, operationally and beyond.
The "Zero Waste" certification was awarded to Kaufland Romania at a national level, for all Kaufland stores, the 2 logistics centers and 2 company office buildings, not just for the 14 audited points, considering the entire effort and waste reduction and management approach implemented by Kaufland in the last two years.
The name of the certification, as used by the DIN SPEC 91436 standard, describes an operational reference model for all involved parties in society who wish to adhere to a waste management system, aligned with the "Zero Waste" vision. DIN SPEC 91436 was developed using the PAS procedure (Publicly Available Specification), and the processing platform is in this case provided by the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), recognized internationally. The PAS procedure means that every company, organization or association can and should participate in the development of the standard in question.
In 2021, when we began investing in the process of reducing operational residual waste, with the objective of being certified for our efforts, the level of non-recyclable waste was 35%. Following Kaufland's 1 million euro investment in this process, the level of the aforementioned waste has dropped below 10%. This represents a reduction of over 70%, resulting from a series of internally implemented programs and measures.
Specifically, less than 10% of the operational waste we produce is non-recyclable and is largely collected by waste disposal companies. All other waste is recycled, composted, or fermented with the help of partners, with Kaufland Romania thus exceeding the 65% target for the recycling of packaging placed on the market, as stipulated by law.
The Zero Waste campaign focuses on reducing operational waste, but Kaufland has also actively conducted collection campaigns among customers and employees. All these projects and initiatives aim to inform and raise public awareness.
Internally, Kaufland employees sort waste in stores into 21 categories. We actively monitor the quantity of household waste, provide training courses and informational materials for employees, and constantly involve them in competitive recycling campaigns.
Kaufland is the only retailer in Romania with two separate collection systems in all stores.
In 2022, more than 2 million customers deposited over 15 million PET, glass, and aluminum packaging at the parking lot's collection machines, while another 1 million plastic containers from personal care and cleaning products were collected in the "frogs" located at the entrance to Kaufland stores. In the second half of the year, we tested a series of collection infrastructures for different types of materials and sent 4.5 tons of electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) and over 650 kg of paper waste for recycling. Another unique program in retail is "Recisacul" (Recy-bag), for collecting even more types of waste not accepted at other collection points – pans, cans, plastic and aluminum foil, food containers, Tetra Pak packaging. The first stage was implemented internally, with employees collecting over 6,000 bags of waste, and then we extended the initiative externally, in stores in Bacău, Constanța, and Râmnicu Vâlcea, where customers collected over a ton of waste.
Our goal is to expand all these projects nationwide and, through all our efforts, for Kaufland to become, in the perception of consumers, the main destination for separate collection.
We emphasize that we always act transparently, with a 360-degree approach, and the data we rely on and provide to our partners are accurate and verifiable data.
CONTEXT: Kaufland Romania recently obtained Zero Waste certification, awarded by TÜV SÜD Management Service GmbH, in accordance with the DIN SPEC 91436 standard. This is an international and independent certification, which attests to the fulfillment of a series of indicators.
PreZero was not involved in the certification process. The certification is carried out by an independent organization. Following a tender that involved three other specialized companies, TÜV Süd was selected to evaluate and certify Kaufland Romania. TÜV Süd's participation in the development of DIN SPEC 91436 was not part of the selection criteria for this tender.
REFERENCES: https://www.tuvsud.com/en/services/auditing-and-system-certification/management-system-certification-marks/din-spec-91436-zero-waste https://www.cc-stuttgart.de/presseportal/din-spec-91436-zero-waste/ https://gruppe.schwarz/en https://prezero-international.com/en/about-us#history https://www.din.de/en/innovation-and-research/din-spec-en https://despre.kaufland.ro/presa/comunicate-de-presa/presse-detail.y=2023.m=04.n=prima-companie-zero-waste-kaufland.html"
