Carrefour Launches Reusable Bags for Loose Fruit & Veg as Part of the Brand’s ongoing Sustainability Initiative

Statistics show that, on average, Georgian citizens use 525 plastic bags per year. While this is an environmental problem, such high plastic usage and production also depletes energy and resources.

Fortunately, there are brands in Georgia who embed sustainability initiatives as part of their successful business strategy.

Carrefour — operated by Majid Al Futtaim in Georgia — is one example of a brand that is very active when it comes to Sustainability and Corporate citizenship. Since its establishment in the country, not only has it introduced local customers to high-quality and best service through customer experience, but it has also prioritized its sustainability agenda.

Having held more than 50 events in the last two years, Carrefour prides itself on its commitment to bettering the lives of its surrounding communities and is guided by its desire to operate in an environmentally and socially-responsible manner.

Its various sustainable projects have been successful in raising understanding around environmental protection and have also supported the socially vulnerable.

Focusing on sustainability, Carrefour has been at the forefront of championing reduced plastic-use through educational campaigns, community volunteering activities, and incentive programmes.

Most recently, Carrefour took another important step forward in its sustainability pledge. Starting 16 November, until the end of the month, the brand is launching a new campaign which will see it introduce reusable bags for fruit and vegetables. Customers will be able to use recyclable bags while shopping for loose fruit and veg, and will have the chance to get a F&V bag for free when they purchase a scrolling bag. This initiative adds to the various kinds of reusable bags already available at Carrefour’s chains.

“Honor the Nature. Purchase a bag and get infinite benefits,” is the main motto of the campaign.

The campaign aims to minimise plastic usage throughout Carrefour stores by increasing sales of Foldable Wheeled Bags and F&V eco-friendly bags, while continuing to raise awareness on how detrimental plastic bags are to the environment. It is another notable move by the brand who have already replaced single use plastic bags in its chains to compostable ones.

Notably, Carrefour Georgia was the first to introduce locally produced reusable bag - MADE IN GEORGIA. Later, it also launched reusable bags with wheels.

Educating the young generation about the importance of environmental protection is an important issue. For this reason, Carrefour recently released the first Georgian coloring book about the harmful effects of plastic on the environment. Brand representatives are set to distribute these coloring books to schoolchildren once they are back in the classrooms. Public school students in an IDP settlement in the town of Khoni already received their coloring books during a planting campaign at the school.

The Honor Nature Campaign

Launched in April 2018, Honor the Nature was a campaign to educate Carrefour customers on the environmental harm of plastic bags and the advantages of using reusable bags. Since the launch, sales of Carrefour reusable bags have increased by 120 per cent. As an added incentive, Carrefour rewarded all customers who chose to use a reusable bag. During the campaign more than one and a half million customers were offered rewards. The launch of these campaigns in Carrefour stores have since marked a 80 per cent reduction in the use of single-use bags.

Furthermore, through a volunteering enterprise, the Carrefour colleagues conducted clean-up activities in Batumi, with support from City Hall. Country-wide, Carrefour has conducted clean-up activities in more than 10 different areas of Georgia as well. Most importantly, the local population was also involved in the clean-up efforts, meaning that the brand’s eco-friendly initiatives encouraged and inspired them to care about the environment jointly and more actively.

Carrefour Georgia then launched the second wave of its environmental campaign in March 2019. A video depicting how plastic is damaging the environment was produced and shown in all the stores, as well as being shown to customers during roundtables to raise even more awareness. During Earth Hour (March 30) and Earth Day (April 22), Carrefour colleagues dressed as tree mascots and distributed reusable bags to customers in the stores, while giving information about the environmental campaign.

Supporting Those in Need

Notably, apart from environmental projects, during the pandemic, the brand’s partnerships with organisations such as the Red Cross, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, Tbilisi City Hall, and the Autism Research foundation, Emmaus Georgia, allowed for a further expansion of Carrefour’s scope of support. Through these partnerships, Carrefour has helped people with disabilities, single mothers, socially vulnerable families, orphans, war veterans, children with serious illnesses, and the elderly.

During the pandemic, Carrefour joined the Red Cross and Tbilisi City Hall campaign to support socially vulnerable elderly people. As part of the social campaign, customers were given the opportunity to play their part by buying products at Carrefour Georgia stores to be later distributed to those in need. Moreover, through a partnership with Mastercard, customers using the credit card within any branch of Carrefour Georgia enabled a donation to be made toward helping live-alone elderly people.

An important memorandum was also signed with the international charity organisation Emmaus, which helped provide unwanted clothes to socially vulnerable families.

Most recently, Carrefour became the first brand to respond to charitable organisation ‘Life is Beautiful’ and commit to supporting the ‘We Are Here for You’ campaign.

Joining forces to support disadvantaged and at-risk members of the local community, representatives from the Life is Beautiful Foundation and Carrefour visited five multiple-child families and gifted them food products, hygiene items and home appliances. Each of the families visited had no less than six children each, and attest to the scale and severity of the challenges many families across Georgia face, especially in the wake of COVID-19.

As a name that is active in the community, and constantly underlining its commitment to the people and communities it serves, Carrefour does not intend to stop, and is expected to continue its environmental and social activities in the future, bringing more benefits and opportunities to society.