The president of the Diputación de Huelva, María Eugenia Limón, has visited in Lepe the supermarket of the pilot Mercadona chain in the province of Huelva of 'Estrategia 6.25', a new efficient store model launched by the company to reduce plastics and take care of the planet.
Limón, who was accompanied by the coordinator of the Lepe center, Rocío Magro, and Mercadona Sevilla-Huelva's External Relations, Marta Rosa, highlighted the chain's efforts to contribute to environmental conservation. "We are facing an urgent priority with which we must all take responsibility, from institutions to citizens: it is essential to give waste a new life and prevent it from becoming a waste of very valuable raw materials", she stressed.
For the president of the Provincial Council, Mercadona "is an example in our province of a company that is committed to promoting sustainable logistics, energy efficiency, responsible waste management, sustainable production and the reduction of plastic". In the Lepe supermarket, the application of 'Strategy 6.25' saves more than 8,000 plastic trucks of 25 tons each, and their traffic from Seville to Villarreal de San Antonio, in Portugal. During her visit, she was able to see how the new strategy is displayed on all the shelves of the establishment and how the corresponding savings in trucks are reported in all sections.
This new way of acting and managing waste is, according to María Eugenia Limón, "in line with what the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda mark, with which the Diputación is allied and committed". In this sense, she has insisted that "the efficient use of natural resources is a common responsibility and between all of us we must take the steps for the transition to a circular economy, in which waste is considered as a resource".
The External Relations of Mercadona Sevilla-Huelva has explained that throughout this year the 'Strategy 6.25' for the reduction of plastics and waste management will be implemented in all the stores of the chain and that in the province of Huelva Lepe has been the pilot store chosen to tell society "what Mercadona is doing to contribute to caring for the environment". In the province of Huelva, Mercadona has 20 stores that generate more than 930 jobs.
The strategy will be carried out through the development of the six actions. One is that throughout 2020 Mercadona will eliminate single-use plastic bags in all sections. Two, it will also eliminate plastic disposables. A third point is that by 2025, the company is committed to reducing the use of plastic in its packaging by 25 percent, eliminating that which does not add value, replacing it with other materials and incorporating recycled plastic.
Another point is that Mercadona is committed to making all its plastic containers recyclable by 2025. The fifth action of the '6.25 Strategy' commits Mercadona to recycling one hundred percent of the plastic waste from physical stores, Home Delivery and Online. And sixthly, Mercadona will help customers to recycle, providing them with useful information on recycling both in the store and on packaging, through indicative pictograms.
To carry out this strategy, the company has trained its 90,000 employees and, in addition, has transmitted the objectives of the Strategy to its suppliers, who are already working on its fulfillment together with the Purchasing and Prescription departments.
