Shame on Albert Heijn: Take Care!

Amsterdam, December 8, 2025

In early November, supermarket chain Albert Heijn launched a new exclusive care line with over 300 products: "Dit is Care" (This is Care). Last week, the glossy magazine of the same name was released, freely available in every AH store. On page three, we read: "Of course, we are happy to help you make more sustainable choices. For example, all Care products are vegan and free of microplastics. (...) Pure beauty at a friendly price. Just at Albert Heijn."

Excited and happy with this good news, we immediately headed to a large branch where the shelves would surely be full of Care products. With our PlasticFreeFuture app at the ready (free to download from the App Store and Google Play), we put it to the test. We scanned the ingredients on one package after another and soon couldn't suppress a cry of disappointment. In a short time, we had found three problems.

The styling gel, the mint hand gel, and the cardamom comfort hand soap all contain microplastics. Let's just say that not enough attention was paid to the small details here.

In addition, we found many products, especially for babies, where the app turned orange. This means that liquid plastics are added to them. Although this falls outside European regulations and slips through the cracks in the law, no one really knows whether it is safe. Liquid plastics have never been tested. That is why you should not add them until it has been proven that they are harmless, especially in children's products.

Is this the first time Albert Heijn has been caught greenwashing?

No, in 2023, Teun van de Keuken's supermarket chain received the Dutch Greenwash Award for exceptional achievements in the field of greenwashing: presenting yourself as more sustainable, greener, and more responsible than you actually are.

This action led to AH being reprimanded in 2024 by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which monitors companies' sustainability claims. After all, consumers must be able to make more sustainable choices with confidence. Appie promised to do better and agreed to assess its sustainability claims against the ACM Sustainability Claims Guidelines from now on.

Now it turns out: promising is one thing, but doing is another.

So, shame on you, Albert Heijn.

Take Care before you claim anything.

You really need to pay more attention to the little ones.

Maria Westerbos

Founder & Changemaker