Circular economy: standstill in the Swiss retail trade
The Swiss retail sector is making little progress when it comes to the circular economy. This is the conclusion reached by Greenpeace Switzerland after evaluating a survey of the twelve largest non-food retailers in Switzerland. Migros comes out on top, although it has made hardly any progress since 2022. Brack.ch has even gone backwards in the last two years.
Greenpeace is calling on retailers to quickly and consistently switch to a circular economy that prioritizes a longer useful life for products.
In 2022, Greenpeace Switzerland published the first comparative study on the state of the circular economy in the Swiss retail sector. The conclusion: there is still a lot to do for everyone and the differences are huge. Two years later, Greenpeace surveyed the same twelve retailers again. Greenpeace finds the results disappointing: no retailer meets the requirements of the circular economy. There has been hardly any progress since 2022.
The retail trade plays a key role in the implementation of the circular economy in Switzerland: it connects manufacturers and suppliers with consumers - and can influence both sides. Retailers could offer services, resell used products and make repairs accessible. In short, retailers could ensure that many products are used for much longer. This would make an important contribution to protecting the climate and the environment.
As the survey shows, the retail trade makes little use of these opportunities. Overall, there has been little progress in the area of the circular economy. The two best-placed companies, Migros and Coop, have made hardly any progress compared to 2022 and remain far from the target. Digitec Galaxus, Landi, Manor and Richemont have made some improvements. Brack.ch performed even worse than in 2022, while Amazon, Globus and Otto's did not answer any questions at all.
Circular economy: far more than just recycling
In a slow circular economy, retailers would only sell non-toxic, durable, repairable and modular products that function reliably and are fully recycled after refurbishment at the end of their life cycle. Together with manufacturers and partners, they would primarily offer recyclable services such as rental models, second-hand, refurbishment or repairs.
According to Greenpeace, there is still a lot of potential in the Swiss retail trade, particularly when it comes to remanufacturing. There are only initial approaches, mostly in the form of take-back and resale portals. These take back a small selection of new products in good condition in order to resell them. While this is commendable, it has little to do with remanufacturing. The voucher that is offered with the return serves primarily as an incentive to buy new goods. Instead, retailers would have to take back many more products. After the remanufacturing process, they would remain in the economic cycle as used and tested products with a guarantee.
"Measured against our vision, the snail's pace at which retailers are moving towards the circular economy is completely inadequate. Isolated efforts and pilot projects do not hide this fact," says Joëlle Hérin, expert on consumption and the circular economy at Greenpeace Switzerland. "Retailers must finally implement the circular economy more consistently, faster and holistically - far beyond recycling."
Source: www.greenpeace.ch
