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Lidl Hellas
The "Plastic Free Greece" campaign is a global message of sustainable development for our country and aims to raise awareness of marine pollution from plastic waste through coastal and underwater clean-up actions.
It is an opportunity for all stakeholders to adopt a more responsible way of operating, acting and consuming. An opportunity for the environment.
The underwater and coastal clean-up actions are part of REset Plastic, our international plastic strategy, launched in 2018 by the Schwarz Group with the vision "Less Plastic - Closed Raw Material Cycles", in which Lidl Hellas is also participating, specifically in the REmove, REduce and REcycle fields of action.
The plastic strategy has a total of 5 fields of action:
REduce / Reduce
REdesign / Redesign
REcycle / Recycling
REmove / Removal
REsearch / Research
As one of the largest food retailers, Lidl Hellas recognises its responsibility to protect the environment and is therefore actively committed to reducing the wasteful use of plastic. It was the first to permanently withdraw single-use plastics such as straws, cups, plates, cutlery and cotton swabs from its stores on 31 December 2019 and removed black plastic - which is difficult to recycle - from all its private label product packaging at the end of 2021.
It also committed to a 20% reduction in plastic use by 2025, to a 25% average recycled plastic content, to maximum recyclability for 100% of private label product packaging by 2025.
The Plastic Free Greece campaign has the strategic objective to raise awareness and activate civil society at local and national level, so that citizens become aware of the necessity to reduce the unnecessary use of plastic and recycling in order to achieve the saving of natural resources and production based on a circular economy model.
With Plastic Free Greece, we aimed to trigger environmental awareness on the reduction of the indiscriminate use of plastic throughout Greece and to gradually mobilize all the Cyclades and the Aegean islands.
The action started in June 2020 in Santorini and continues this year for the fourth year.
Based on the fact that shaping a sustainable future for future generations is a common task and responsibility, Lidl Hellas launched the "Plastic Free Santorini" campaign in June 2020 in Santorini, as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and Lidl Hellas. In September 2020, this initiative was integrated under the national campaign "Greece without single-use plastics", a joint initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.
PLASTIC FREE GREECE 2021
This journey continued for Lidl Hellas and the Foundation in the summer of 2021, aiming for 6 tourist destinations in the country to become Plastic Free. Chania, Chalkidiki, Santorini for the second time, Corfu, Rhodes and Kos are the islands selected where Lidl Hellas representatives, together with partners and volunteers of the Foundation, carried out marine and underwater clean-ups and joined forces in the fight for the protection of the marine environment and the Greek coastline, offering breath of life to the islands' ecosystem, but also solutions, paving the way for sustainable development.
PLASTIC FREE GREECE 2022
Plastic Free Greece travelled to 6 additional destinations in Greece, Heraklion, the second leg of Halkidiki, Santorini, Syros, Lake Kerkini and Lemnos, in order to continue their effort to convince people that it is worth trying to live their daily lives in a more sustainable way.
Plastic Free Greece is an innovative initiative, as its launch was based on the creation of an alternative tourism campaign, which was linked to initiatives to achieve sustainable development goals at local, national and international level.
To achieve these objectives, a series of actions are carried out in each destination. Each of them touches on a different aspect, thus offering a holistic and multi-level approach to the issue. Specifically, two coastal and two underwater clean-ups are carried out in each destination in order to directly address the issue of coastal and environmental pollution, while meetings are held with representatives of the local authorities to discuss the strategy of the Foundation and Lidl Hellas regarding the reduction of the indiscriminate use of plastic, as well as the next steps of the action.
https://corporate.lidl-hellas.gr/media-center/pressreleases/plastic-free-greece?startdate=&enddate=&search=plastic+free+greece
https://corporate.lidl-hellas.gr/media-center/pressreleases/plastic-free-greece-completion?startdate=&enddate=&search=plastic+free+greece
https://corporate.lidl-hellas.gr/plastic-free-greece
https://corporate.lidl-hellas.gr/media-center/pressreleases/plastic-free-greece-2022
Plastic Free Greece is a partnership of our company with public bodies (Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Municipality of Santorini and representatives of local government of the respective regions) and with the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.
For the implementation of the project, employees of the Corporate Responsibility department of Lidl Hellas, the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, as well as volunteers from Lidl Hellas stores in each destination are cooperating.
For the organisation of the project there is also communication with representatives of the local government and meetings are held in each destination and there is also the possibility of voluntary participation in the clean-ups.
Finally, the team of Sotiris Danezis and Thodoris Tzartos have collaborated for the production of the videos.
Cleaning has been carried out at the following destinations:
- Santorini (every year included in the destinations as it is the reference destination of the project)
- Chania (2021)
- Halkidiki (2021)
- Corfu (2021)
- Rhodes (2021)
- Kos (2021)
- Heraklion (2022)
- second leg of Halkidiki (2022)
- Syros (2022)
- Lake Kerkini (2022)
- Lemnos (2022)
From 2020 to 2022, a total of 26 coastal and 22 underwater clean-ups were carried out. A total of more than 120 volunteers participated in the clean-up activities. A total of 547 kg of litter was collected in the coastal clean-ups and 2,271 kg in the underwater clean-ups.
Lidl Hellas pursues strategic partnerships and invests in them. One such cooperation is the one with the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, which has already been in existence for several years. Through this cooperation we contribute to the protection of the environment and, by extension, to the achievement of the UN goals to which the action is linked. As the project is addressed to civil society, local authorities and other partners of our company, our commitment to partners and stakeholder engagement is further strengthened.
Furthermore, in the context of the meetings with local government representatives, Lidl Hellas' strategy on reducing the wasteful use of plastic is communicated, but multiple benefits also arise through the cooperation and open dialogue with other stakeholders, including local authorities, who participate in the programme.