Carrefour Cuts Plastic in Spain

My first experience at a supermarket in Spain is something I will never forget. I was a long way away from any of my comfort foods – even the milk, my trusty fallback as a Wisconsin girl – was not refrigerated and therefore difficult (but not impossible) to stomach. It would just take time.

To the untrained eye, it seemed that I was the only one having to make these cultural adjustments without complaint, but in reality, the Castellanos (or Spainards) that shop at Carrefour are going through a transformation of their own. As of September, Carrefour, a French owned international supermarket chain located all over Spain, has retired its plastic bags in preference of using materials that can be more easily recycled. They are the first company of any kind in Spain to institute this form of sustainability. Estimations show that every person in Spain goes through approximately 240 carrier bags a year. Individually, a bag takes 400 years to decompose.

The new bags are large, sturdy, and composed of recyclable materials. They boast the slogan: “Echale un mano al media ambiente” – Give a hand to the environment – and so far, the plan has been mostly a success. Customers can purchase the bags the first time for fifty cents (euros) and afterwards, they bring them to the store as needed. This wasn’t too huge of an adjustment for me as my mum has been using cloth bags for a long time in our house, but the difference at Carrefour is that you can be penalized for forgetting your Carrefour bags. By the end of the year, Carrefour hopes to have eliminated plastic from their supermarkets entirely in Spain. If customers arrive without their Carrefour bags, they will have to spend the fifty cents in euros to buy more. Many gripe that this is an unfair, profit-making advantage for Carrefour, but I have to disagree. Monetary incentive or penalty is often the only method of instigating widespread change. Additionally, Carrefour claims to be selling the bags at cost.

As for my fellow Castellanos, those that I have asked about it don’t seem to mind. Fifty euros for the environment every now and then is a price they are willing to pay. Keep in mind, however, the my circle runs in the city of Bilbao and I imagine we might find a different story as we leave the urban landscape.

Carrefour is the second largest international supermarket in Europe and is the first to eliminate all of its plastic bags in Spain.

• Organizatio n Type: For-Profit
• Website: http://www.carrefour.es/index.html
• Founders: Fournier and Defforney Families
• Founded: 1963
• Location: started in France, has expanded internationally
• See complete company list here