Italy has been at the forefront in Europe in the reduction of plastic shoppers use since 2011, when a law was passed that banned them in favor of compostable ones.

Now Unicoop Firenze, a chain of supermarkets based in central Italy, decided to go beyond the law prescriptions and apply it also to thin plastic bags and disposable gloves used to manipulate, weigh and contain fresh produce, which at the moment are not regulated in a similar way.

The 103 sale points of the chain have started to switch to compostable Mater-Bi bags and gloves, thus avoiding the distribution of 360 tons of plastic every year. After containing the purchased fruit and vegetables, the Mater-Bi bags can be turned into a resource if used for the separate collection of organic matter at home, improving the quality of the organic fraction of urban waste; on the other hand, the gloves used at the supermarkets will be collected and recycled becoming a secondary raw material.

The project has been developed in cooperation with Novamont, the Italian company leader in bioplastic production. The first few supermarkets started using the new bags in 2012 and 2013 as a test, while all the other Unicoop Firenze sale points will be equipped with the new gloves and bags during the next months.

More information on the Unicoop Firenze website (Italian only)