Lidl stops using ‘sustainable’ in Belgium
Lidl wants to get rid of products labelled ‘sustainable’. The supermarket is afraid this will put people off, and that the word implies that the products are more expensive. That is why the supermarket in Belgium will henceforth refer to them as ‘zame’, dropping the word ‘duur’.
‘It is only sustainable if everyone can afford it,’ says the supermarket chain. In Belgium, a campaign is being launched to make it clear to all customers that the sustainable products are not expensive products. The ‘zame’ products protect biodiversity, combat waste and pollution, and use water and other raw materials sparingly.
Solar panels on the roof
Lidl is repeatedly named the most sustainable supermarket. Recently, the supermarket chain opened the most sustainable supermarket in the Netherlands in Almere. With a roof full of solar panels and green, nature-friendly parking spaces, where electric bicycles can also be charged, the supermarket is an example for other stores.
5 cents
Whether they call it sustainable or not, one in five products on the shelves is already sustainable. Lidl is also doing its best to waste or throw away less food: products approaching their use-by date are sold for 5, 10 or 20 cents. And those sustainable products are therefore no more expensive, according to the supermarket. ‘Many products are made especially for us,’ they say. ‘That means we decide for ourselves how sustainable they can be. We have fewer products in the store, and therefore we can buy more of those own-brand products.’
Posters
The ‘zame’ campaign is not being run in the Netherlands, but the supermarket chain’s sustainability ambitions are the same in both countries. In Belgium, the campaign will start with large posters bearing the word ‘Zame’ in giant letters.
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Source: Knack.be
