Albert Heijn is to stop printing receipts at the checkout in 500 of its stores – except if customers specifically request one and then it will be printed on paper from sustainable sources.
The environmentally-friendly move, which comes into effect next week, will save the Dutch supermarket chain 35,000 kilometers of paper annually and reduce the amount of litter generated around its stores.
For the past year, Albert Heijn has been running a trial of paperless transactions, which found that more than 60% of clients find till receipts unnecessary, particularly at its ‘AH to go’ convenience store formats where 97% of clients don’t want one. Based on the trial’s positive outcome the concept is being extended to most Albert Heijn stores.
For clients, nothing will change. They will be asked at the checkout whether they want a receipt. If not, it won’t be printed – a slight change from the current system, which automatically prints out a receipt for every transaction.
Albert Heijn pays a great deal of attention to measures that contribute to improving the climate and reducing its CO2 emissions and waste are an important part of this commitment. Over the next few years, Albert Heijn will add doors to all wall coolers in its stores, and this year all deep freezers will get LED lighting. These measures will help it achieve its goal to emit 20% fewer CO2 emissions per square meter of retail space by 2015.