H.E. Mrs. Irene Plank, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, among the official guests at the event
On December 12, 2023, Lidl Bulgaria officially announced its partnership with the “Caps for the Future” Foundation. Currently, special containers branded with the initiative’s logo for collecting caps have been placed in all 18 chain stores with reverse vending machines for bottles and cans.
“Very soon, such [containers] will be placed in all Lidl stores in Bulgaria, and in this way, we believe that we will further facilitate those many consumers who support ‘Caps for the Future.’ At any time during our store hours, customers will be able to leave the collected caps at designated locations without the need to make a purchase. The entire logistics process leading up to handing over the recyclables in support of the campaign will be Lidl’s commitment,” said Milena Dragiyska, CEO of Lidl Bulgaria.
“Thanks to the partnership with Lidl, we will be able to collect a lot more caps. And caps are just the beginning and just one of the activities through which we assist. I strongly believe that a healthy society is primarily built by volunteers, and our goal is to inspire more and more Bulgarians over time to volunteer and contribute to making the environment we all live in better,” said Lazar Radkov, founder of the “Caps for the Future” Foundation.
The bottle and can reverse vending machines are part of a pilot project that Lidl Bulgaria launched at the end of March this year. They were installed in 10 stores across eight cities. Last week, the company announced that it is expanding its pilot project with an additional 10 stores. Thus, the total number of Lidl stores with vending machines is now 20, located in 14 cities across the country. In 18 of the stores, the machines are already operational, while the remaining two will be placed in newly constructed stores in Sofia, scheduled to open early next year.
Botevgrad, Pernik, Karlovo, Stara Zagora, and Shumen are the new cities that Lidl is including in its pilot project. The number of stores equipped with vending machines in Sofia is also increasing, with four new ones, and one more in Varna.
H.E. Mrs. Irene Plank, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bulgaria, was among the official guests at the event.
From bottle to bottle
The first bottles made with 30% recycled material, derived from bottles returned to the chain’s stores, are already on sale. The product is a 1.5l original water under the Saguaro private label. This way, Lidl is practically implementing the “from bottle to bottle” model. It ensures the return of valuable material back into the food industry and specifically into the bottling industry, which is the goal of all stakeholders interested in the future deposit system. In the coming months, other products in bottles with 30% recycled content will also be released.
A video illustrating the journey of the bottle—from the shelf in the store, through the machines and recycling, back to the shelf—can be viewed here.
