Episode #11: What does it entail to tackle plastic packaging as a large supermarket chain?

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Episode #11: Podcast Show Notes

Introduction

When a big supermarket chain changes something, it has a huge impact! That’s why I interviewed Charlotte De Vroey, the Sustainability Manager at Delhaize Belgium. 

Charlotte shared what is behind their Lion’s Footprint initiative: less plastic, less CO2, and less food waste. Do you know why they are focused on ‘less’ instead of ‘more’? Do you wonder how they tackle the interlinked challenges of packaging and food waste? Are you curious about what is laser printing?

I really liked how Delhaize is involving its multiple stakeholders in its vision. Nobody is put on the side: we talked about investors, buyers, colleagues, suppliers, and even regulators!

If you are selling to or buying products from big grocery stores, would you want to be part of this journey?

Where to find Charlotte and Delhaize Belgium

Little notes

In order to offset its own emissions that Delhaize cannot completely eliminate, it has created - in collaboration with major suppliers such as Unilever, Mondelez, and Henkel - the Lion's Footprint Fund, which supports ecological projects managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. RiverCleanup was one of the initiatives supported which has a link with packaging.

About Charlotte De Vroey from Delhaize Belgium

With almost 15 years of experience in sustainability, Charlotte De Vroey leads the sustainability team at Delhaize (a chain of 800 food supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg). Her focus is to propose healthy food and to maintain a healthy planet.

Before, she worked in making product supply chain more sustainable thanks to certification.

She studied economics, ethics, and more recently, sustainable supply chains at the Cambridge University for Sustainability Leadership.

Podcast music

Special thanks to Joachim Regout who made the jingle. Have a look at his work here.

I am happy to bring a sample of our strong bonds on these sound waves. Since I was a child, he made me discover a wide range of music of all kinds. I am also delighted he is a nature lover and shares the Look4Loops 'out of the box philosophy'. He is an inspiring source of creativity for me.

Colienne Regout