Coop's you. Who can reduce more?

by Eleonora Anello

All the 62 store of Coop Centro Italia (Incoop, Coop and Ipercoop) participate jointly to the European Week of Waste Reduction.
The historic cooperative, one of the leaders of the large retailers in Italy, has got it right: before recycling is necessary to reduce. So the group, which traditionally has informed its customers on the environmental, social and economic waste on the environment, are now emphasized the need to reduce them, first making practical choices in this regard. We spoke with the press office.

It seems that Central Coop Italy has enthusiastically joined the European Week of Waste Reduction, given the number of actions organized in the stores of Umbria, Tuscany, Abruzzo and Lazio. Communicatively, what does the common thread bind so many experiences?
«Coop Centro Italy has sought to give high visibility to all of its good environmental practices useful to reduce the waste by focusing the communication on the principle of "three R" that has always characterized the issue in environmental: R as “Risparmio” (saving) of packaging and consumption resource input (for example, elimination of the case of cardboard in the packaging of toothpaste brand COOP); R for Re-use of containers (such as the introduction of charges in the line detergent person Coop and reusable shopping bags) R as recycling of materials used in place of virgin (the use of recycled plastic detergent bottles for home Coop). The products aim to achieve a significant cost savings to members at the same time a big saving the environment (such as the reusable bags brand Coop of detergent and the conteiner for different waste collection) were displayed at the entrance of store and highlighted with special slates that evoke the image of the campaign and providing our customers with information on the "plus" of the green products».

How can the companies play an active role in changing ingrained habits of the consumers?
«The businesses, for example by promoting initiatives and projects related to environmental protection, to the reduction of CO2 emissions and to the decrease in waste production, may have an active role in changing ingrained habits: informing and raising awareness among customers about these issues contributes to develop behaviours that promote the protection of the environment in which we all live».

In the shopping trolleys, so, you can have a smaller amount of waste: to emphasize that, even at the supermarket, you can do sustainable and responsible shopping, the more careful consumers are starting to leave on the shelves the products with excessive and unnecessary packaging. A behaviour that, hopefully, will continue and take root in consumption patterns also beyond the European Week for waste reduction too.