Penny Sharpens the Sustainability Profile

Discounter Penny has made its mark with a series of sustainability initiatives in late summer 2020. These include the elimination of plastic lids on yogurt own brands. But also the opening of a “sustainability experience market” in Berlin.

More than 50 tons less plastic per year: Discounter Penny wants to achieve this by dispensing with additional plastic lids on 500g cups of all its own yoghurt brands. The launch will be marked by various Penny natural yoghurts (0.1%, 1.5%, and 3.5%) as well as various types of Skyr from the Elite private label. In order that the customers can close the opened cup nevertheless again, Penny sells food-safe and dishwasher-safe returnable lids made of platinum silicone. The two-pack is available for 0.99 euros.

Model market for sustainability

The subsidiary of the Rewe Group aims to put all private label packaging to the test in order to avoid, reduce or make packaging more environmentally friendly wherever possible. This is also evident elsewhere: at the beginning of September, Penny opened the first, so-called sustainability experience store “Penny Grüner Weg” in Berlin. There, 20 stations are to make the most important milestones of the company with regard to sustainability visible and tangible for customers. Among other things, a number of new packaging solutions can be “viewed” there: For example, Penny uses grass paper, reduces the thickness of the film and also uses unpackaged products.

At the end of August, the company announced that it was changing the packaging of organic fruit and vegetable products, the “Naturgut Bio-Heroes”. Instead of plastic packaging, alternatives such as cardboard and paper packaging, cellulose nets or banderoles and stickers will be used. Or they will be offered without packaging, such as cucumbers. According to the company, up to 50 tons of plastic can be saved annually in the long term.