Packaging-free groceries should not cost too much effort

When Jouri Schoemaker has no inspiration for a while, he looks in his garbage can. The empty milk cartons, a shampoo bottle, the countless foils in which meal packages are delivered in neatly measured portions – one by one he hopes to make them unnecessary. “Nobody is happy with packaging waste, but I also see opportunities in it.”

For two and a half years, Schoemaker (31) has been running the packaging-free online supermarket Pieter Pot with partner Martijn Bijmolt. Yet he also just has a garbage can full of rubbish at home. Because Schoemaker is, he says, a very average consumer. He is concerned with the climate, eats less meat, wants to use less plastic. But it shouldn’t get too complicated.

According to him, that was the problem with packaging-free for a long time: it was too much hassle. In 2015, packaging-free shops opened in various Dutch cities, and within a year they were all closed again. “I didn’t go there either. The reason: discomfort.” Cleaning jars and bottles, lugging it to the store, a limited range, and often much more expensive too.

At the same time, Schoemaker also saw the annoyance, in himself and others. Was all that plastic really necessary? In short: the time was ripe for packaging-free groceries, but the right solution had not yet been found. The customer did not have to take his reusable pots to the store, the store had to take the pots to the customer.

Glass cans and bottles

Everything at Pieter Pot still revolves around the glass cans and bottles, fitted with clip closures. They are delivered throughout the country with an external delivery service, except for the Wadden Islands. The customer pays a 2 euro deposit per jar, if he returns it with the next delivery, he will get it back. Pieter Pot washes the pots and refills them, after which they can go to another customer. From the deposit, 1 euro will be deducted per return to cover the costs for collection and cleaning.

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You will not hear Schoemaker say that his company has already proven itself. Pieter Pot is not yet profitable, so “it can’t be done yet”. But it is a lot further than those first packaging-free stores. If you calculate the last week’s turnover to an entire year, Pieter Pot’s turnover would be 11 to 12 million euros.

70,000 Dutch people have now found the packaging-free grocery delivery person, and since the end of last year the company has also been delivering in Belgium. The average customer buys once a month. And those are really not just fanatics, says Schoemaker. It is precisely the average, conscious consumer who is discovering packaging-free groceries.

That belief permeates others as well. This month, Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the country, announced the start of a packaging-free concept. A shop in Rotterdam has recently installed a six-metre wall, where a customer can fill his reusable jar or bag with seventy different non-perishable products. In a year’s time, something like this should be in fifty stores.

Behavioral change

A year ago Frans Muller was still hesitant. Then NRC the CEO of supermarket group Ahold Delhaize asked about shopping without packaging, he mainly pointed out the objections. How could you scale up such a concept to 54 million customers? Wasn’t it unworkable for store staff?

Barely eight months later, subsidiary Albert Heijn is still closed. After the store in Rotterdam, a branch in Amsterdam will have a wall with taps next month, Leidschendam will follow in June. Customers can choose from groceries such as rice, cereals, spreads and coffee beans. They weigh their container before and after filling, and then receive a label to pay.

Also read the interview with Ahold CEO Frans Muller: ‘We do our best to push, but customers are creatures of habit’

The range comes in reusable plastic tubes, which are easy to change in the shops. Empty tubes are filled at the manufacturer from 25 kg bulk packaging. At the back, the system is therefore not packaging-free, according to a spokesperson. The concept is intended to save consumer packaging.

Why Albert Heijn is now convinced? There are several reasons for this, says Anita Scholte at Reimer, head of sustainability. The refilling systems are rapidly improving and becoming more practical. But consumers too “are quickly becoming more aware of what they can do themselves.” She thinks it is still too early to speak of a breakthrough, but there is certainly momentum for packaging-free.

At the same time, it also takes some getting used to for customers, Scholte op Reimer notes. That is why an employee is standing in Rotterdam for the time being to help. Many customers do not yet come to the store with their own containers and bags. “We also sell them ourselves, but of course you hope that customers will take them with them. It takes time for behavior to change. You could also see that with the reusable bags for fruit and vegetables. I forgot that myself the first time.”

Make concessions

From the corner of a business hall in Heinenoord, there is an incessant clinking of glass. Here, on a small industrial estate in the polder, all of Pieter Pot’s orders are collected and shipped. The company currently operates across multiple locations. The pots are filled and cleaned at social workshops in Schiedam and Rotterdam.

Compared to other online supermarkets, such as Picnic or Crisp, Pieter Pot is quite modest. All the work is done by about 130 people. But the contrast with two years ago is enormous: then Schoemaker and Bijmolt bought pots themselves from a large home improvement store, and a huge package of peanut butter from the wholesaler. They scooped up the contents with spoons. Instead of thirty small packages, only one large package went into the waste.

Of course they want to move to a situation where nothing is thrown away, but to get there you sometimes have to make concessions in the beginning, says Schoemaker. Many products are still delivered in big bags of 600 kilos. They are not yet fully reusable. But a quarter of the range is now completely packaging-free.

Take the olive oil. It comes in reusable plastic tanks, which are returned to the manufacturer after transferring. Pieter Pot has also persuaded suppliers of peanut butter and sauces, for example, to fill the glass swing-top jars and bottles directly on the production line. The company expects pots to be used at least 40 times on average, after which they will be recycled. In their own words, 2.5 million packaging has been saved since its inception.

In order to continue to grow, it is necessary, according to Schoemaker, to make packaging-free even more attractive. For example, the company is looking at whether it can reduce the deposit on pots in the long term. The pots themselves are also being worked on: there will soon be a square pot, which is considerably lighter and due to its shape is more efficient in transport.

Pieter Pot is also constantly expanding the range. At the moment the company mainly sells non-perishable products, but the ambition is that customers will soon be able to do all their weekly shopping. The company also wants to sell fruit, vegetables and dairy. Soon Pieter Pot will start with beer and wine in a returnable bottle. A huge difference, says Schoemaker. Reusing a bottle is many times better for the climate than recycling it.

Schoemaker can only applaud the fact that his company now has a major competitor with Albert Heijn. In recent weeks, he has regularly been asked how it feels when the largest supermarket in the country copies your idea. He sees it differently himself: it is a victory that other chains are embracing packaging-free. This means that what is currently an exception will soon be accessible to everyone.

“We knew from the start that we don’t have a patent on this,” he says. “The fact that Pieter Pot will continue to exist is because we make it easiest for customers to be packaging-free.” According to him, an important difference is that customers at Albert Heijn still have to take their pots to the store themselves. He also sees opportunities to collaborate with supermarkets, so that Pieter Pot’s products are also on the shelves.

But what if large chains start doing this big, and also do it online? Shoemaker laughs. “Then it will be exciting.”

But suppose it comes to that, then it will also mean the definitive breakthrough of shopping without packaging waste. “Then I have to choose between our mission and our raison d’être. As far as I’m concerned, the first one wins.”