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Building the future sustainably
23
March
2021
From green facades over reusable material to climate-friendly refrigeration: when building and organising our stores, we try to keep our ecological footprint as small as possible. Handling base material with care, innovating with energy-efficient and circular solutions... Every day, we roll up our sleeves to build and renovate sustainably!
Circular building
Building with as many reusable materials as possible, that is the philosophy of circular building in a nutshell! When we renovate a store, we have a checklist of no less than 1,300 materials and parts at hand. From chairs over lattices to shell material: we look for a new destination for everything. And when we start building a new store, we wonder how we can use the material again later. This results in less waste and a more efficient use of base material!
Climate-friendly refrigeration
Since 2015, we install refrigeration systems in our stores that work on natural refrigerants (propane/propylene gas). In the meantime, we already equipped 128 stores with this environment-friendly system and heat 64 with the residual heat from this refrigeration. To share our expertise and inspire other companies as well, we recently signed the Green Deal on Climate-friendly cooling.
Sustainable store concept
More loose products, a separate greenhouse for fruit and vegetables, recycled shopping baskets, circular building material ... Trendsetter Bio-Planet keeps innovating with new, environment-friendly solutions and materials. The newest circular, plant-based panels are made of fibres and binding agents from residual flows in the agricultural and food industries. Bio-Planet is testing the new store concept in Braine-l’Alleud, and will continue with the other stores afterwards.
Original green fronts
Did you know that behind the green facades of some of our shops, there is a beautiful recycling story? When we were looking for material to fix the green plants, one of our designers had an ingenious idea: why don't we use our old store lattices? They used to prevent products from falling off the shelves, today they are a foothold for climbing plants and mosses. A refreshing example of creative reuse!
Green fueling stations
CNG, electric charging posts ... DATS 24 has done pioneering work for sustainable mobility in our country for years. This philosophy is also applied to the maintenance and construction of the fuel stations. The refuelling isles are installed on liquid-proof bases and the stations are cleaned with collected rainwater and biodegradable products. LED lighting and CO2-neutrally produced tissues for the hands are the finishing touch.