Belarusian Cooperation Union tells about sale of environmentally friendly tableware

1 ноября 2022
The Belarusian Cooperation Union plans to increase the sales of environmentally friendly tableware up to 70% by the end of 2025. This was stated by Deputy Head of Industry, Quality and Standardization Department of the Belarusian Cooperation Union Tatiana Kosyakova in BelTA press center.

"The work to reduce the use of polymeric packaging in the organizations of Belarusian Cooperation Union has been carried out for several years. An action plan for 2020-2025 was developed for this purpose. In this regard, the disposable tableware made of natural origin materials and biodegradable materials are sold in the trade network of consumer cooperative societies and public catering facilities. The plan is to increase the share of environmentally friendly tableware up to 40% by the end of 2022 and up to 70% by the end of 2025," said the expert.

The retail network of consumer cooperation sells mineral drinking water in glass, but the turnover of these products is considerably slower compared to the similar products in plastic bottles, she added. In addition, the Belarusian Cooperation Union ensures the availability of environmentally friendly packaging - paper bags. As alternative packaging options, textile shopping bags are on sale at large retail locations.

"The industry is working hard to reduce the use of polymeric materials. The paper bags are used for bakery packaging, and cardboard boxes are used for confectionery packaging. Meat processing shops pay great attention to the production of home-made products, the share of which is more than 60% of the total output of meat products. At the same time, sausage products are mainly produced in natural casing, as well as in packaging using textile materials," Tatiana Kosyakova noted.

According to her, the winemaking industry uses both returnable and new glass packaging. Besides, the company has organized filling of wine into modern ecopacks. The cooperators plan to further introduce ecopackaging in industrial enterprises, as well as to increase the volume of production.

"The Belarusian Cooperation Union is actively involved in the state program "Comfortable dwelling and favorable environment" with regard to the procurement of the secondary material resources, including the polymer waste. The consumer cooperative society has more than 250 facilities for recyclable glass packaging, and it is also accepted in all the commercial facilities of our network," the specialist concluded.

In recent years, the share of the Belarusian Cooperation Union in the national volume of collection of polymer waste was 5%.