Lidl Hungary hits 150 million milestones with aluminium cans & other recyclable items

Lidl Hungary has achieved a significant milestone with its innovative return system, surpassing 150 million returned items, including aluminium cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles. The company greatly emphasises sustainability and environmental protection, actively supporting its customers in making eco-friendly choices.

Image Source: Lidl 

Since January 1, 2024, nearly one in four recyclable waste items collected at REpont locations nationwide has been returned by customers to one of Lidl's 210 stores, underscoring the supermarket chain's commitment to environmental stewardship and its leadership in the market.

Lidl Hungary is committed to environmental protection and sustainability, reflecting its values as a responsible company. Embracing this commitment, Lidl was among the first to implement the legally mandated bottle return system across its nationwide store network starting January 1.

"As a market leader and responsible company, we want to be at the forefront in every area and set an example. Sustainability is also a particularly important topic for Lidl, which we are trying to promote with a number of measures and objectives. The bottle return system is key to protecting our environment, and we are proud to have collected more than 150 million aluminum beverage cans, glass and plastic bottles so far. This means that nearly 220 thousand bags of recyclable waste weighing approximately 7.5 million kilograms have been transported from our REpoints so far. Our goal is to make the process even faster and smoother for our customers, thus increasing the return capacity in more of our stores, which overall represents an investment of billions," said Judit Tőzsér, the company's head of communications.

With REpont machines now required in all grocery stores over 400 square meters, the discount chain ensures accessibility by offering return services in all 210 stores. Lidl has installed high-capacity beverage packaging return machines to enhance customer convenience, with at least one device in every store and up to three in larger locations, demonstrating its dedication to providing the most efficient solutions.

Lidl Hungary reports that over 150 million returnable beverage containers have been collected at the REpont stations in its stores. Remarkably, customers returned more bottles than the deposit-based products sold by Lidl, meaning nearly one in four returned containers was brought back to one of the stores in Hungary's leading retail chain.