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On Wednesday, Lidl opened the “most sustainable supermarket of the Netherlands” in the city of Almere. The store is not only energy and CO2 neutral, but was also built with sustainable and circular materials.
Circular
The sustainable supermarket, which was built in the green district of Almere Oosterwold, minimises the environmental impact by using sustainable and circular materials. A lot of wood was used in the construction and old Lidl polo shirts of branch employees were processed as insulation in the façade and inner walls. 90% of the installations are dismountable and/or reusable and all waste in the store is reused or recycled.
The store is not connected to the sewage system or the natural gas network. All energy comes from 1,566 solar panels in the park, on the roof and on the carports. Customers can charge their cars or electric bicycles for free. Moreover, the store is supplied by an electric truck with zero emissions.
Green zone
Lidl offsets the remaining CO2 footprint with a green area of 14,323 m² around the building, including elephant grass, which absorbs up to four times more CO2 than trees. Rainwater is collected to replenish the ponds on the site. An educational trail informs consumers about the initiatives Lidl takes here for people, animals and the environment.
It is not Lidl’s first sustainable supermarket in the Netherlands: in September 2019, the retailer already opened a ‘Lidl Zero’ in Woerden: that was the first ‘energy circular’ supermarket in the country. The discounter is also testing sustainable store concepts in other countries. In early 2019, for example, an ecological store opened in Sigtuna, Sweden, north of Stockholm. This was also built with sustainable materials, had a green roof with solar panels and provided charging stations for electric cars and bicycles.
