Bratislava, April 29, 2010 - Albert/Hypernova continues motivating its customers towards environmental protection. Being the first retail company in Slovakia to do so, Albert / Hypernova stopped handing out plastic bags for free, thus reducing their consumption by almost 50%. In addition, since mid-February the company handed out over 250,000 ecologic Albert paper bags to customers in its stores. During Easter holiday, customer who paid over €50 for their shopping received free folding ecologic cardboard boxes. In two weeks, the company gave out over 15,000 of these boxes, which made this initiative another successful ecologic measure. By introducing the ecologic paper bags, in March the use of plastic bags decreased by 25 percent in comparison with last year.
“Since February, customers receive one free paper bag for each €30 worth of purchased goods. This way, we want to give them an opportunity to do more for the environment,” explained Diana Chovancová-Stanková, Albert/Hypernova spokesperson. Another step was the introduction of folding cardboard boxes with a load capacity of 30 kg, in which customers can easily carry home their weighty shopping. “During the two-week Easter season, we gave out over 15,000 of these boxes for customers who made a purchase of over €50. These measures resulted in decreased use of plastic bags, which our customers are charged for. In comparison with last year, 27 percent less customers opted for the ¢ 3 plastic bag this February,” informed D. Chovancová-Stanková. In March, the ¢ 20 bags experienced approximately the same decrease in use. Thus, during February and March, use of both types of paid plastic bags decreased in comparison with last year by 25 percent.
“Environmental protection is one of the pillars of Ahold’s corporate social responsibility strategy,” emphasised D. Chovancová-Stanková. “We run a project aimed at saving electricity. Its goal is to reduce the electricity demand of our operations at least by 10 percent.” Within the framework of this initiative, Albert/Hypernova started fitting its hypermarkets with efficient cooling devices with lowered energy consumption, installing covers on the cooling boxes, and fitting in economic lighting.
Another significant ecologic measure was the introduction of e-flyers. Production of classical paper flyers required felling of almost 23,000 mature spruce trees every year. Albert/Hypernova decided to motivate customers to opt for the e-flyer rather than the paper version, thus saving Slovakia’s forest heritage. “We want to conduct our business in an effective way, but not at the expense of the environment,” concluded D. Chovancová-Stanková.