Lithuanian grocer Iki set to eliminate single-use plastics from its stores

  • 2019-08-08
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS - Iki, Lithuania's largest retail chain by the number of stores, is set to eliminate single-use plastic plates, cups, cutlery and straws from its stores in the near future.  

The company stopped replenishing the stock of such disposables in early August, but leftover items are still available in some stores, Berta Caikauskaite, the chain's head of communications, said in a press release on Thursday.  

"Soon, there will be no single-use plastic products left in any of the 229 Iki and Iki Express stores soon," she said.  

Iki plans to offer more environmentally-friendly alternatives to shoppers. 

"We already offer disposable paper dishes and wooden utensils to our customers. Disposable dishes made from sugar cane are already available in some stores," she said.    

Maxima Grupe, the largest retail chain in the Baltics, said earlier this month that it would stop selling plastic dishes, straws and bags at its stores in the Curonian Spit.

Maxima CEO Kristina Meide then said the chain expected to cut the use of plastic bags by 30 percent by the end of the year.