According to a recent study by the Society for Packaging Market Research, German consumers use around 45 plastic shopping bags per year, in addition to bags made of paper, cotton and other materials. Disposable bags made of plastic or paper are not ideal from an ecological point of view. But even bags made of cotton are only an environmentally friendly alternative if they are reused very frequently. However, customers often forget the bags when shopping. "Our surveys have shown that up to 25 percent of customers in supermarkets and up to 78 percent of customers in shopping centers regularly forget a bag. Reusable bags are therefore not used often enough to be truly ecologically beneficial," reports Christiane Auffermann, head of the project.

To counteract this problem, Fraunhofer IML has developed a reusable system for shopping bags, which was tested for the first time on January 11, 2018 at Schuhhaus Böhmer in Ruhrpark Bochum. Other retailers in the Dortmund area are to be added soon.

More than 30 usage cycles can be realized

The system works like this: As before, customers can buy the bags in the store. They pay a deposit in addition to the purchase price. If they no longer need the bag, or if it is dirty or worn, the customer can return it. The returned bags are sorted, cleaned and returned to the retailer. In this way, significantly more than 30 usage cycles can be realized. This is the minimum number required to be ecologically beneficial.

"The system is good for the environment and offers customers an additional benefit, as they can use an environmentally friendly bag whenever they need it - without having to plan in advance - even if they have forgotten their bag. That's why we decided to enter the test phase together with the Fraunhofer IML," reports Heinz-Werner Döring, authorized signatory at Schuhhaus Klauser, which includes Schuhhaus Böhmer in Bochum.

The six-month pilot phase is now being used to gain insights into the return rate and circulation speed of the bags and to better assess the economic efficiency of the system. as