UGO Salaterie to Reduce Plastic Waste

The struggle with plastic has become a trend in recent years, with an increasing number of companies engaged in diverse industries. The anti-plastic campaign also hit the Czech Republic, where individual companies try to limit the amount of plastic waste produced by customers.

In addition to traditional supermarkets, which are gradually replacing plastic shopping bags with those made of paper, Czech food e-shops Košík.cz and Rohlik.cz are for the ecological wave. Ikea announced earlier last year that it would stop selling single-use plastic goods worldwide by 2020, while the Czech branch of the U.S. coffee chain Starbucks offers a discount for customers who bring their own cup. 

UGO Salaterie has recently started to reduce the use of non-organic and disposable plastics. So far, the Czech company has replaced plastic plates, cutlery, and glasses with porcelain dishes and classic glasses.

UGO has 81 shops in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and has reduced the number of plastic waste by 40 percent during its pilot months. 

“It’s not easy to find the right answers to sustainability issues. But even small steps and changing the behavior of each of us can produce tangible results. Therefore, despite the economic burden, we started to serve fresh salads and soups on porcelain dishes with metal cutlery, and we replaced the plastic cups with glasses,” says UGO founder Marek Farník.

“The measures we have put in place increase our costs by tens of thousands per year for each restaurant. However, sustainability is part of our DNA, so despite the increased costs, this activity makes sense,”  said Stanislav Pekárek, head of marketing at UGO.

Several other Czech retailers, including Lidl, Kaufland and Tesco, have already pledged to stop selling single-use plastics such as straws, plates, cups and cutlery, as well as cotton buds and replace them with alternative and recyclable ones.

Author: Lilato Madiri