Retro fashion also reaches the supermarkets. The employment of reusable products as our grandparents did and the end of disposable packaging is the future. Currently there is a serious problem since 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been generated and only 9% has been recycled.
And it does not stop, since only in Europe they are produced every year eight million tons of plastic for packaging of food and drink. If this trend continues, by 2050 our seas and oceans will have more plastics than fish.
Re-pot Market is an online supermarket that was born with the intention of ending the “use and throw away” of packaging by reuse and circular economy. It was born with the aim of offering society the usual and quality products, which can be found conventionally in supermarket lines, but in reusable packaging and through home delivery in electric vehicles, providing the consumer with a comfortable and environmentally friendly consumption.
Alejandro Roset, co-founder and CEO of Re-pot explains that the project was born as an alternative for all those consumers tired of excess packaging found in traditional supermarkets. Large supermarkets only change their attitude towards plastic due to legislation, such as the one that will prohibit fruits and vegetables from being sold in plastic containers from 2023. But he recognizes that “It is not enough to counteract all the tons of waste that are generated year after year. There is still a lack of creative ideas such as Re-pot that promote change and provide the end consumer with plastic-free alternatives “.
How does Re-pot Market work?
Re-pot is a 100% digital model that uses electric vehicles for its deliveries. They defend recycling, but they go a step further and are directly committed to reuse as a totally sustainable model and against the current model of use and disposal. The chain begins with the customer placing his order through the platform, where he chooses the products of interest and selects the delivery time of the order.
Once the customer consumes the products, they must keep the empty containers that will be collected when the next order is delivered, closing the circle of these. Later, when the containers arrive at the Re-pot facilities, they are treated and disinfected by the same company or redirected to the supplier of each brand for treatment, which guarantees sanitary conditions for reuse.
The products offered by this digital reusable packaging supermarket range from food and drinks, to household cleaning products and personal hygiene. Since they began in 2021, their work together with that of their customers has saved more than 7,700 plastic bottles and almost 500 kg of waste. In addition, thanks to the fact that the distribution is made with electric vehicles, the carbon footprint disappears and more than 200 kilograms of CO2 have been saved.
The startup has raised 120,000 euros
Re-pot was born during a trip to vietnam that the three co-founders did together: Alejandro Roset (CEO), Javier Maella (COO) and Tirsà Sánchez (CCO). On one of the beaches of the Asian country there were so many floating plastics that it was impossible for them to bathe.
This was one of the main reasons that prompted the founders to take action after some time reflecting on how they could help make a more sustainable planet. The solution was to create a 100% sustainable supermarket that would allow customers to comply with the environment without having to leave home and without giving up the products of the usual purchase.
According to Javier Maella, COO of Re-pot: “We always tried to reduce our impact on the purchases we made. However, when we returned from Vietnam we realized that the market and the planet demanded an easy and comfortable solution for consumption and that is why Re-pot was born “.
