Galeria Kaufhof bans plastic bags

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has announced its decision to stop using plastic bags throughout the entire group. The last stocks of disposable plastic bags will be steadily run down in the first half of 2020.

Many retailers and discounters have already completely abolished the plastic bag, and now the retail giant Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is following suit. Galeria is implementing the policy in its Karstadt and Kaufhof department stores, Sports and its food and catering subsidiaries. CEO Dr Stephan Fanderl explains: “We did not decide to do away with plastic bags for economic reasons. Plastic bags as packaging are simply no longer in tune with the times or our business model, which will increasingly apply sustainability criteria.”

The group’s massive reduction in plastic waste will make a solid contribution to environmental protection, he continued. “But we will also integrate sustainability in stages much more tightly into our business model. For example, we are testing logistics systems at several locations for delivering orders to our customers which are intended to be CO2 neutral in future and which we will also offer other retailers,” Fanderl says. He explains that Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is working in dialogue with associations, experts and institutes on sustainable packaging with a strong emphasis on reusability.