Working together for a circular economy

Our circular strategy: avoid, reuse, recycle

The global demand for resources for the manufacture of new products has risen sharply in recent decades. This has consequences: The environment and climate are suffering from the high consumption of resources and the generation of waste. As REWE Group, we want to minimize these effects in our own value chains. Our goal is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Wherever possible, we develop measures to conserve resources and gradually return products and raw materials to cycles at the end of their use. In the area of packaging, the focus is on reusable and unpacked products.

Making packaging more environmentally friendly

By the end of 2030, we want to make 100% of our own-brand packaging more environmentally friendly.

Our commitment

We are committed to the efficient use of natural resources such as soil, air, water and raw materials.

Our goals

We strive to reduce the consumption of resources in the value chain of our products through the circular economy and thus make a positive contribution to environmental and climate protection.
By the end of 2030, we want to make 100 percent of all own-brand packaging at REWE, PENNY and toom Baumarkt DIY stores in Germany and BILLA, BILLA PLUS, PENNY and ADEG in Austria more environmentally friendly.

Graphic representation of the circular economy at REWE Group

REWE delivery service switches to reusable bags and saves 40 million paper bags a year

REWE Lieferservice is now using reusable bags (MWT) for the delivery of its products. After they have already been tested in some model regions, they are now being rolled out nationwide. The changeover will enable REWE Lieferservice to save 40 million paper bags a year.
- Press release
Recycled PET: one cycle, many winners

More recyclate in PET beverage bottles? That shouldn’t really be a problem. After all, more than 90 percent of all used bottles are collected in Germany. However, more than half of the rPET recovered from these bottles is used far away from the beverage industry. At REWE Group, we have set up a closed loop for disposable drinks bottles as a test. Our first implemented circular economy project creates security of supply for suppliers and helps us to achieve our recycling targets.
- To the story
REWE and PENNY are giving away around 14 million reusable fresh food nets from August 1

REWE, nahkauf and PENNY are giving away around 14 million of the popular reusable fresh food nets in all stores nationwide. As part of the sustainability strategy “Avoid. Reduce. Improve.” rEWE Group wants to use the campaign to encourage even more customers to avoid plastic bags when buying unpackaged fruit and vegetables and to use the reusable fresh produce net instead.
- Press release
Closed-loop recycling: plant transportation goes reusable

Huge amounts of plastic waste are produced every day around the world – including when transporting plants between nurseries, warehouses and customers. toom wants to change this: Colleagues in 34 toom stores are now testing a reusable option. Tobias Theuerkauf, Logistics Manager – Planting Stock, explains the background in an interview.
We unpack fruit and vegetables – where it makes sense

Bye bye, plastic:rnAt REWE and PENNY, we are offering more and more fruit and vegetables without packaging.
- To the story

Simply reusable

We focus on reusable solutions and were the first food retailer in Germany to introduce an open, scalable system for reusable to-go packaging at REWE and Lekkerland. “Einfach Mehrweg” uses the take-back structures via deposit machines and has been awarded the Blue Angel, the ECR Sustainability Award 2023 and the German Sustainability Award Products 2025.
REWE dispenses with cup lids

REWE is dispensing with the additional plastic lid on all 500-gram cups of natural yoghurt and all 500-gram cups of soy yoghurt from its own brands “ja!” and “REWE Beste Wahl”. With this decision, REWE saves more than 69 tons of plastic waste every year.
Reusable bucket for cut flowers

PENNY will be the first grocery retailer in Germany to introduce a standardized IFCO reusable bucket for its cut flower range from 2023. The changeover will save up to 140 tons of plastic per year.
Goodbye plastic bags

REWE has been doing away with plastic shopping bags in its stores since summer 2016. This example was followed by PENNY, toom Baumarkt DIY store and DER Travel and Tourism. As a result, REWE Group saves more than 202 million bags a year. Since then, we have been using alternative reusable carrier bags, jute bags and shopping cartons in our stores and branches.
No packaging for organic fruit and vegetables

REWE is the first of the four largest food retailers in Germany to offer organic fruit and vegetables largely without plastic or with improved packaging in more than 3,600 stores nationwide. This saves 210 tons of plastic and 80 tons of paper every year. PENNY is also switching its organic fruit and vegetable products to plastic-free packaging on a permanent basis or is phasing it out where possible. This can save up to 50 tons of plastic per year in the long term.

Video Playlist

We make packaging eco-friendly

Stephan Weist, Head of Full-range Goods, on the goal of making all of REWE Group’s own-brand packaging more environmentally friendly by the end of 2030.

Unpackaged organic produce at REWE

Unpackaged organic fruit & vegetables at REWE supermarket.

EU packaging regulation brings change for retailers and co.

The circular economy is revolutionizing the way we use resources. Instead of “take, make, throw away”, it focuses on reuse and recycling. What sounds so simple at first glance poses major challenges for companies. The EU wants to promote the circular economy and has drawn up a new packaging regulation (PPWR), which brings with it a great need for change for retailers and thus also for REWE Group. In future, regulations such as the PPWR will place high demands on packaging throughout the European Union. We at REWE Group also see this as an opportunity and are positioning ourselves for the future when it comes to the circular economy.

What does the PPWR mean for our company?

The law aims to reduce packaging waste and promote the reuse and recycling of packaging. The first PPWR regulations will be binding for everyone from August 2026.

We at REWE Group addressed the new requirements at an early stage in order to be able to react to the changes in good time. We see this as an opportunity to make our packaging recyclable and further improve our ecological footprint.

What is the PPWR?

new EU regulation for uniform regulation of packaging and packaging waste in all EU countries
affects packaging manufacturers, industry and trade
Recycling should be promoted and non-recyclable packaging should be banned
demands minimum proportions of recycled material in plastic packagingrn
sets binding reusable quotas, e.g. for beverage packaging
defines future restrictions and bans on certain disposable packaging