SuperValu to make light fittings from old CDs with 3D printing

SuperValu plans to produce light fittings for its 223 stores from recycled CDs using 3D printing technology, it has said today.

That means the light fittings will have a 75% reduced carbon footprint for material supply and manufacturing, transport and end of life combined, due to the lightweight nature and reduced number of parts compared to a traditional light fitting.

SuperValu has partnered with two Irish companies, Domus and Pro Light Design and Technology on the project, and installation has been completed in 40 stores to date.

The new light fittings combined with LED lights in the SuperValu network has delivered significant energy savings to date which, when combined with new environmentally friendly refrigeration units and solar panels installed on the roofs of a range of SuperValu stores, has resulted in enough energy saved to power 22,890 homes in Ireland for a year.

Milestones that SuperValu will achieve as part of its sustainability strategy include:

•The removal of unrecyclable black plastic in its core ranges

•Installing energy saving doors to refrigeration cabinets across the majority of its estate

•Fitting Solar PV Panels to the roofs of 50 stores

•Reducing fleet emissions by 1.5% year on year

•Assisting 300 SME suppliers to become more sustainable by providing eLearning resources.

SuperValu has kicked off a sustainability campaign, Sustainability Sundays, to share with the public updates on progress.

Every Sunday this year SuperValu will also share tips with customers on how to make small changes in their lives to become more sustainable and drive environmental change.

Managing director Ian Allen said: “We are working hard to be more environmentally friendly, fundamentally rethinking everything we do, from product packaging to how we design our stores.

"We have ambitious targets such as making 100% of the packaging for our Own Brand range recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025 and reducing our carbon emissions to be net zero carbon by 2050.”

“Today’s announcement that we are changing all our light fittings to ones made from recycled materials such as old CDs is just one part of a bigger plan that we will be rolling out this year.

"We have already made real progress like changing our fruit and veg bags so that they are compostable and half of our stores running on green electricity generated from renewable resources.

"But we know that we have more to do and among our targets for 2021, we plan to increase the amount of loose produce we sell, install solar panels on more of our stores and reduce fleet emissions.”