The funds were collected by handing over 2 million packages to the vending machines of the chain
Lidl Bulgaria made the first payment of BGN 100,628 to the Lazar Radkov Foundation as part of the joint partnership in support of the “Caps for the Future” initiative and children’s health. The amount was collected within four months, thanks to the plastic bottles and cans returned by the chain’s customers in the take-back machines.
The donation option has been available since mid-May this year in 24 Lidl stores that have machines installed. The chain then offered consumers the option to choose whether to donate the amount they receive for the returned packaging or deduct it from their in-store purchase. The interest in the possibility of donation is great – for the amount collected, more than 2 million packages were returned. This is nearly 12% of all plastic bottles and cans returned for the period, and in some of the stores this percentage reaches over 30.
“It would be an understatement to say that I am satisfied with the results achieved. For the moment, the outlook is that our joint campaign with Lidl will double our annual finances, which will enable us to help at least twice as much,” said Lazar Radkov, founder of the “Caps for the Future” initiative.
The collected funds will be used for various actions and campaigns in support of children’s health within the framework of the “Caps for the Future” initiative – equipping and renovating children’s wards, training children in first aid and responding to accidents, disasters and accidents, etc.
The partnership between Lidl Bulgaria and the Lazar Radkov Foundation began in December 2023 with the placement of special containers for returning caps in stores with take-back machines, and only a month later it covered all the chain’s stores in the country. To date, the caps collected and handed over for recycling in the Lidl retail network are close to 16.5 tons, which equates to approximately 16.5 million caps or more than BGN 14,000 in support of the foundation’s causes. You can see more about the joint campaigns of Lidl Bulgaria and the Lazar Radkov Foundation at corporate.lidl.bg/darenie.
Lidl Bulgaria installed the machines for the return of plastic bottles and cans as part of its pilot project beginning in March 2023, which currently includes 24 stores in 16 cities in the country. The packages collected since the beginning of the project to date exceed 43 million pieces of jugs and bottles.