Action that began in March, with six participating stores, was expanded to 23 Minuto Pão de Açúcar units in the city of São Paulo. Bottles and other glass packaging collected are taken to the Ambev factory, where they are recycled.
Seeking to increasingly integrate sustainable development into business strategies, Minuto Pão de Açúcar entered into a partnership with the Brazilian startup Green Mining and with Ambev to insert reverse glass logistics in its stores in São Paulo. The action began in March, in six units and an average of 100kg per week. At the beginning of July, this average rose to almost 400kg per week, and the total collected and sent for recycling now exceeds the 6 tonnes mark – the equivalent of more than 30,000 bottles of long neck beer.
“Giving the consumer the opportunity to do their part in reverse logistics is fundamental, and cooperation between retail, industry and startups allows us to further scale the amount of recycled material”, says Rodrigo Oliveira, CEO of Green Mining.
With the success of the partnership, the companies decided to increase the number of participating stores and, now, the public can choose between 23 addresses to take their waste. The action, which has the slogan “Is there used glass to be recycled? Solve in Minutes”, provides, at participating points, exclusive collectors for glass disposal – these can be bottles, pots, glasses and other objects, as long as they are clean and dry. When the bins are full, the waste is collected by Green Mining collectors, who use tricycles to avoid CO2 emissions, taking the material to a concentration point (Hub). When a certain volume is reached, the glass is taken directly to the Ambev factory, located in Rio de Janeiro, returning the material to the company's production chain.
“The expansion of this partnership reaffirms the Pão de Açúcar brand’s commitment to sustainable actions in its stores, offering an option for correctly disposing of waste and mobilizing society towards the importance of recycling. Our customers are traditionally involved in causes like this and quickly joined the program. Therefore, I am sure that the volume of recycled glass will increase significantly with the installation of the new collectors”, adds Frederic Garcia, Executive Director of Minuto Pão de Açúcar.
“One of the main priorities we have at Ambev is to increasingly encourage a circular chain – waste collection and recycling. And the success of the partnership with Green Mining and Grupo Pão de Açúcar is proof that we are on the right path to go even further”, celebrates Rodrigo Figueiredo, Vice-President of Sustainability at Ambev.
Check the addresses of Minuto Pão de Açúcar stores that have exclusive bins for glass disposal:
• Av. Paulista, 407 – Bela Vista
• Al. Santos, 565 – Bela Vista
• Al. Ribeirão Preto, 466 – Bela Vista
• Rua Padre Antonio José dos Santos, 554 – Brooklin
• Rua Dr. Renato Paes de Barros, 154 – Itaim Bibi
• Al. Lorena, 2055 – Jardins
• Pamplona Street, 1173 – Jardins
• Rua Peixoto Gomide, 1635 – Jardins
• Al. Lorena, 867 – Jardins
• Al. Dos Maracatins, 884 – Moema
• Rua João Moura, 509 – Pinheiros
• Rua Cardoso de Almeida, 1292 – Perdizes
• Rua Rodesia, 276 – Vila Madalena
• Av. Lins de Vasconcelos, 3003 – Vila Mariana
• Rua Rio Grande, 185 – Vila Mariana
• Rua Pedro Pomponazzi, 45 – Vila Mariana
• Rua Dr. Alceu de Campos Rodrigues, 174 – Vila Nova Conceição
• Av. Hélio Pellegrino, 743 – Vila Nova Conceição
• Av. Dr. Cardoso de Melo, 482 – Vila Olimpia
• Rua Fidencio Ramos, 81 – Vila Olimpia
• Rua Bahia, 764 – Higienópolis
• Rua Albuquerque Lins, 844 – Santa Cecília
• Praça Visconde de Sousa Fontes, 374 – Mooca
