Moroccan supermarkets, Searious Business tackle waste from single-use plastic

A project in Morocco to boost recycling levels of food-grade plastic packaging and bottles kicks off 20 March. Called Mossup - Moroccan Supermarkets tackling Single Use Plastic - the project is being implemented by the Searious Business, a Dutch social enterprise focussed on preventing plastic pollution, at two supermarket chains in Morocco, Mariane and Carrefour.

Morocco generates more than 1 million tons of plastic every year. Aimed at addressing the issue of plastic pollution in Morocco, the project will focus on effecting small changes in shoppers’ habits over a pilot period of three months that will ultimately lead to significant results.

Plastic bottles and deli-counter food containers can be found in nearly every customer’s shopping basket. By tackling plastic waste from these two sources, the supermarket chains aim to reduce plastic pollution and the impact on the environment.

The solutions

Two strategies are being trialled. The first consists of introducing a bottle-to-bottle recycling scheme.  Supermarket customers will be invited to return PET plastic bottles to a dedicated collection point in participating stores. For each bottle returned, the customer will receive a voucher or loyalty-card points which are redeemable in the store. The bottles are recycled into food grade plastic for use in new bottles. If successful, this approach could be further upscaled. Estimates have projected that over 26 million bottles could be collected every year in the city of Rabat alone, saving some 790 tonnes of CO₂ and avoiding 530 tonnes of plastic waste. 

A second approach targets the reduction of single-use plastic food containers by replacing these with a reusable alternative. Deli-counter customers will be encouraged to opt for a reusable container. They will be required to pay a small deposit, which is repaid on returning the container to store. The reusable containers will then be washed and reused. If widely implemented, the city of Rabat alone could avoid a huge 5000 tonnes of plastic waste and save 14,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

The projects are fully aligned with Searious Business’ commitment to preventing plastic pollution at the source,  said CEO Willemijn Peeters.

“Through the Mossup project, we are implementing two circular solutions which will keep plastic in the economy and out of our ocean,” she stressed.

The Mossup project is run by Searious Business and funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs programme for Small Business Innovation Research. The Searious Business team have partnered with Association Marocaine pour la Protection de l’Environment et du Climat who provide on-the-ground knowledge and assistance in Morocco.  The Moroccan Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is also supporting the bid to find solutions for waste from single-use plastic.

The idea for the initiative arose in 2020. Since then the team has been engagito get them on board. in order to change the way plastics are used. Both ASMAPEC and the Dutch Embassy have played important roles by engaging stakeholders, raising awareness, and providing local knowledge in order to get the pilot schemes started. There have been minor delays to the programme due to the Corona virus pandemic, but a strong collaborative approach from all parties has enabled the team to overcome this challenge. The pilots are initially scheduled to run in select stores in Rabat from March to June. If successful, these will be followed by a further roll-out later this year.

A key success factor is obviously the extent to which Moroccan consumers are ready to embrace change. This will require the retail partners involved in the project to continue to engage with their customers, educating them on the benefits of reducing plastic waste.  Putting legislation in place to back up the plastic bottle deposit return scheme would provide further support.