Lidl parent company founds its own waste system

Author: Marcus Schilling
Date: 02.10.2018

Self-organization of the entire disposal chain

The parent company of the discounter Lidl and the supermarket chain Kaufland was the first trading company that established its own dual system for waste. The Schwarz Group bought a waste disposal company in the summer. Now the trading group is able to regulate the entire waste disposal chain by themselves. So far no similar project has been announced by competitor Aldi.

A company representative confirmed the establishment of the own garbage disposal system. However, no details were given. Currently, Lidl pays between 70 and 80 million euros per year for the organization and disposal of their own brand packaging waste. According to estimations the discounter causes a tenth of the packaging garbage in the German trade.

Germany currently has nine dual systems that organize the collection, sorting and recycling of waste from industry and commerce. The largest supplier is Duale System Deutschland (DSD), which owns the trademark rights to the Green Dot recycling symbol. Only recently it was announced that the industry giant Remondis intends to take over DSD.

Expansion on the waste market

With the foundation of the dual system “Pre Zero Dual Gmbh”, the Schwarz Group expands its presence on the waste market. In the summer, the group acquired the fifth largest private waste disposal company in Germany, Tönsmeier from Porta Westfalica. Now the entire waste chain can be covered by the company self and the waste can be organized, collected, sorted and recycled. ” This is a completely new, large market participant who will put the entire industry under high pressure” said industry experts.

Kaufland may become a customer

The “Pre Zero Dual GmbH” is expected to start operations in 2020. Previously, administrative procedures and further agreements for approvals must be made. It is possible that the dual system will then also take over the waste organization for Kaufland. Apparently, a contract between Lidl and the company Interseroh based in Cologne, which was previously responsible for the disposal of Lidl, will run until the end of next year.

The reason for organizing the company’s own waste disposal is a rule change that will come into force next year and is intended to prevent current problems on the waste market. A “central place” shall objectively collect data on the amount of waste from dealers, industry and dual systems. Through this, one would like to prevent system operators from cheating and passing on costs to competitors.