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What does Albert Heijn’s plastic report actually stand for?
3 December 2021
In response to the complaint brought against Ahold Delhaize by ClientEarth and Plastic Soup Foundation in November to the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, AFM), a spokesperson from the holding responded via the ANP press agency: Ahold Delhaize reports to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an organisation that works to promote a circular economy. ‘We also strive to make our progress on plastic known in our annual reports.’
But what Ahold Delhaize reports to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is not made public, and what is given in its own annual reports is anecdotal and limited. And this is what the complaint revolves around.
THE COMPLAINT
Under European legislation, listed companies are required to report on the ways that their activities impact the environment, and the financial risks they face related to this. According to the complaint, Ahold Delhaize is not meeting the requirements laid out in the European Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) in relation to its reporting on plastic packaging. The holding may claim in its Annual Report 2020 that plastic is a relevant subject, but still qualifies it as not yet material from a ‘financial impact point of view’ (p. 37). What’s more, what it does report is limited to house brands, much of it is not supported by data and is not externally verifiable.
NEW PLASTICS ECONOMY
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy strives for a circular economy for plastic in which plastic waste does not exist. It has three objectives to be achieved by 2025.
- Eliminate all problematic and unnecessary plastic items.
- Innovate so that all the plastic that we continue to use is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
- Circulate all plastic items so that they are part of the circular economy and do not enter the environment.
ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION PROGRESS REPORT
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation published The Global Commitment 2021 Progress Report in November on the progress of more than 500 large companies and organisations worldwide to voluntarily tackle the plastic crisis. The foundation makes the point that
Many of the member organisations admit that an international plastic treaty is needed and that actions taken voluntarily are not achieving the desired result.
Not all organisations are transparent about their plastic consumption.
AHOLD DELHAIZE NOT TRANSPARENT
Ahold Delhaize signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in 2018 and reports every year on its progress in reducing its use of plastic. The information passed to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is not always made public and thus does not necessarily reach investors. Furthermore, the European Directive requires adequate reporting in its own annual report.
The question is then the degree to which Ahold Delhaize is actually able to report on its plastic consumption. The holding’s Annual Report 2020 does state (on p. 230) that these data are barely available: ‘We have found it challenging to collect accurate packaging data, including the total tonnes of own brand plastic packaging, the plastic types used and the recyclability of plastics’.
It is unclear on what basis Ahold Delhaize is providing information to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation when it claims to be unable to collect the information itself.
THE ONLY TRANSPARENCY AROUND AH: THE MUSHROOM PUNNET
The lack of information about its plastic consumption in 2020 in the holding’s annual report is in sharp contrast to the number of times that the mushroom punnet is cited as a good example of its plastic policy and sustainability. Albert Heijn has replaced the blue mushroom punnet with a transparent punnet made of 100% recycled PET. The transparent plastic container is easier to recycle. This ‘success story’ is promoted everywhere – in the sustainability report 2020 (in Dutch); the Annual report of the holding (Ahold Delhaize); and in full page spread advertisements in newspapers.
The transparent mushroom punnet may meet the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s second objective, but before reaching the second objective, the first should be met: eliminate unnecessary plastic. The holding is thus implicitly stating that mushrooms cannot be sold unpackaged.
GREAT
Would it not be great if Ahold Delhaize would state in its full page spreads that it will be completely transparent about its plastic policy from now on? That in addition they:
- support an international plastic treaty with binding reduction goals;
- support more stringent legal packaging standards that optimise recycling;
- make a significant part of the surface area of the supermarkets plastic free, like in France;
- invest heavily in the refill revolution from now on; and,
- greatly expand the amount of packaging that has a deposit system.
This is the least you can expect from the largest supermarket chain that claims to be the most sustainable.
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