During its 30-year old history in Hungary, active participation in the domestic social life and unselfish partnership have always been important for the company. SPAR participates actively in making everyday life better: she promotes support organisations being in connection with health and social issues and among others in the field of education, culture and sport. These endeavours and initiatives are organized into a common frame and made efficient by the programme „SPAR – for a sustainable future”.

„During pandemic and forced closure, the empathic helpfulness of people towards each other is particularly appreciated. It is a great pleasure and pride for us to have had the chance to experience the exceptional sacrifice of our customers. Thanks to them too, our company spent last year more than HUF 186 million to social sustainable issues during its various community charity initiatives and social actions covering numerous fields of life. The personal character of our support programmes realized by the contribution of our strategic partner, Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta touched the customers in the year 2020 being full of challenges, which is really promising and encouraging for the future” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication.

Merry Christmas for ten thousand families

With its „Giving is Joy!” Christmas fundraising initiative, SPAR helps for more than 20 years the people living in difficult circumstances. During the fundraising campaign realized by the coordination of Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, the customers helped their fellow humans in December 2020 by buying donation cards worth of HUF 18 million in 105 designated SPAR and INTERSPAR stores and in the SPAR online shop as well. Thanks to the donations, the organization could deliver food packages to ten thousand families and elderly people living alone even before the holidays.  The store chain has increased the success of the initiative by an irregular contribution: it doubled the value of the donation offered by the customers, thus the last year’s “Giving is Joy!”ended with HUF 36 million donation.

Products of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta on the shelves

In the framework of another initiative of SPAR and the Charity Service, the canvas bags of the sewing shop of the organisation in Tiszabura are sold in the INTERSPAR-network. The sales help the women and mothers working in the disadvantaged settlement, while they offer perfect environmentally friendly solutions for the shoppings. Another common undertaking is the distribution of food products of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta for a year now in the designated stores of the store chain in Budapest and in the countryside. The sales of hibiscus tea, sauces with special or traditional flavour, vegetable pastes or marmalades mean a living for those disabled, marginalised people who work in the manufactures of the charity organization in Páty and Gyulaj. The articles are in demand and popular in the stores of SPAR-group, this shows the efficiency of the model. The main effect – social benefit – is that the people participating in the project carry out today value-creating work which has also changed the life of families fundamentally.

Support of the catering of epidemiological and child protection workers

In the framework of the „Feed the Doctor!” civil movement, the store chain has provided free of charge pre-packaged sandwiches prepared in the SPAR enjoy. convenience plant in Üllő for nurses and doctors working in the first line of the virus defence. The company has also supported the initiative with a donation worth of HUF 1.5 million by which the hot lunch of more than 100 healthcare workers was ensured daily – without compensation.

Furthermore for the call of UNICEF Hungary, SPAR has provided financial support and sandwiches to children living in child protection care and people working in the child protection system. The store chain has supported with HUF 2 million the work of the organization which helps night and day the disadvantaged, ill children being in difficult situation during the period of epidemic as well, moreover, it has also contributed with sandwiches to the catering of children living in child protection institutions and the experts dealing with them.

Support for starving children

The Feed the Children Foundation helps since 1993 the undernourished, invariably eating children living in poverty to get food in appropriate quantity and quality. The organization has cooperated with the store chain for 8 years and it collects donations for this purpose in more than 100 stores. In 2020, the customers donated HUF 2.5 million for this important issue. The foundation has supported from the donation given by SPAR customers such families that got into in a hopeless situation because of the coronavirus pandemic: almost 700 children of 300 families got help to grew up healthier and not to starve. The people in need also received fresh fruits and vegetables besides basic foodstuff.

Fighting against the illnesses of children – one balloon, double joy

The cooperation of SPAR Hungary and Do Something for Children and People with Leukemia Non-profit Foundation has a decade of history. The store chain provides place in its stores for fundraising – stand for balloons to fold – and it supports the summer camping of families with leukemia. By the support, the organization can continuously help families affected with leukemia, other blood system disease, bone marrow transplantation: the foundation could help in the last 11 years nearly 1000 families which means approximately HUF 120 million of patient support.

Care of disabled people with changed work capacity

SPAR, being dedicated to equal opportunity, works together with Janka Tanya in Tótvázsony from 2017. The purpose of the non-profit organization is to realize such daily occupation which enables to achieve success and contributes to that our autistic fellow humans can become creating part of the society. During the cooperation with the civil organization, two or three times a week, the INTERSPAR employees in Veszprém welcome the youngsters who carry out different – self-stacker and storage – tasks there by the coordination of their developing pedagogues. Ornaments and commodities made by them can also be purchased at the annually organized Christmas and Easter markets in the centre of the company.

Besides the patronized people of Janka Tanya, the store chain helps the youngsters of its other two partner organisations: thanks to the company, the patronized people of Rain Man Foundation for the Autistic People of Vas County and the Foundation for Autistic Children of Zala County also get the chance to integration. Beyond helping the youngsters of Tótvázsony, Vas and Zala counties, the company pays a great attention to the integration and long-term employment of its colleagues with changed work capacity: it organizes awareness-raising trainings for the employees and applies an equal opportunity rapporteur. The store chain provides for more than ten years sales points to Szerencsejáték Zrt., by which lottery tickets can be bought in almost a hundred super- and hypermarkets from people with changed work capacity.

The company received firstly in 2010 the Disability-Friendly Workplace recognition, since then, it was awarded with the recognition at every turn.

Helping the market entry of Hungarian farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and food industry producers

The initiative being realized within the professional cooperation of SPAR and Agricultural Marketing Centre is exceptional in the domestic trade, which initiative supports the Hungarian product innovations. In the Hungaricool by SPAR competition, the organizers searched for creative food products that also consider sustainability. The new and creative products with original flavour combinations are available from the end of March 2020 in the selection of all of the current 34 INTERSPAR hypermarkets and in the SPAR online shop as well. This support has an increased importance for domestic businesses endeavouring to the market in the period of coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, the store chain continues its product competition by joining to the prime time popular business show „Among Sharks” of RTL Klub, in which internationally recognized investors will evaluate the innovations.

Fundraising and collecting pet food for animals

SPAR Hungary offers food products of its super- and hypermarkets that become superfluous, cannot be placed on the market anymore or are withdrawn from the market to such organizations, associations, zoos and wildlife parks that deal with the caring and saving of animals. In 2020, it gave such products in a quantity of 2500 tonnes to more than 100 organizations.

In addition to the issues above, the company also supports civil organizations working for pets, in which its main partner is for nearly a decade the National Animal Protection Foundation. In the coordination of the foundation, almost 60 animal protection organizations collect food for pets in the SPAR and INTERSPAR stores nationwide. The customers donated last year for dogs 8046 kg of dry dog food, 4507 pieces of canned food and 259 pieces of salami, and for the cats 1361 kg of dry cat food and 7415 pieces of canned food. The cats can be particularly happy: the quantity of canned and wet food purchased for them has doubled compared to the previous year.

Our newest member is Arval Hungary which was founded in 2003. The managing director of the company is Gwénael Cevaer, the number of employees is 48 and the net sales in 2019 on a group level were 471,4 million euros. Regarding the company’s core business, it provides B2B long-term rental solutions for vehicles and fleet management, as well as corporate mobility products.

In relation to sustainability and sustainable development, the main element of their strategy is the education of their customers in conscious driving and sustainable vehicle usage, as well as the provision and development of services that can support this. Their strategic goal is to significantly increase the share of alternative, environmentally friendly powertrains in the vehicle fleets operated by Arval. Their group has a globally defined CSR and sustainability strategy that aligns with the global CSR and sustainability strategy and policies of their parent company, the BNP Paribas Group. Their ambition in terms of CSR and energy conversion is reflected in the fact that regarding their 500.000 electric cars in their fleet in 2025 they have set a goal of a 30% reduction in their CO2 emissions compared to 2020 and plan to continue to operate in a carbon neutral way. In Hungary, Arval also has a local CSR strategy in line with the global plan, due to which they have participated in reforestation and garbage collection campaigns, among other things, and are looking forward to implement new activities this year and in the future.

Their company introduced the KYC (Know Your Customer) process in 2017, which ensures that all parties respect, among other things, human rights during their business cooperation. In 2020, their group issued its first global CSR report, which includes data from all countries.

By joining BCSDH, they would like to reaffirm their commitment to sustainable development and moreover to strengthen such activities and communication.

In a circular economy, the aim is to avoid waste, reuse products and recover resources. “Companies that can provide solutions for the transformation to a circular economy will have a crucial competitive advantage,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer of BASF, speaking about the circular economy, a key issue of the future in society and in politics at the first BASF digital Research Press Conference. BASF has therefore launched a new Circular Economy Program. By the year 2030, the company aims to double its sales generated with solutions for the circular economy to €17 billion. To achieve this, the company is concentrating on three action areas: circular feedstocks, new material cycles and new business models. As of 2025, BASF aims to process 250,000 metric tons of recycled and waste-based raw materials annually, replacing fossil raw materials.

Battery recycling: Closing the loop in e-mobility

According to experts, more than 1.5 million metric tons of battery cells from electric vehicles will have to be disposed of in the year 2030. In addition, there is scrap from the production of cells and cathode active materials as well as their precursors. These contain valuable resources such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. With battery recycling, these raw materials can be reclaimed and reprocessed. To recycle lithium-ion batteries, they are first dismantled and shredded, which creates a substance called “black mass.” It is currently possible to recover raw materials from black mass using various chemical processes. This reduces the carbon footprint of the battery metals by at least 25 percent compared to mining from natural deposits.

Until now, however, this process has been very energy-intensive or has created large volumes of salts that require disposal. In addition, the yield of raw materials is still too low. BASF is developing a new highly efficient chemical process with numerous advantages: It can recover high-purity lithium from the batteries with high yields, it prevents waste and it further reduces the carbon footprint compared to existing processes.

In this way, BASF supports the European Commission’s goals of establishing a sustainable European battery value chain. The BASF recycling process can play an important role in the creation of a circular economy for batteries in Europe.

Additives to improve plastics recycling

For plastics as well, BASF researchers are working on ways to more efficiently close material loops. According to a study by the consulting firm  Conversio, around   250 million metric tons of plastic waste are globally generated per year. Only around 20 percent of this plastic is recycled, thus keeping the material in circulation. In mechanical recycling, waste plastics are shredded and melted to make recyclate, which is then used to make new products. However, this material is not suitable for many applications without further processing. One reason is that repeated use and processing often damage the polymer chains so much that the plastic becomes brittle or yellowed. Another reason is that plastic waste is often made up of a mixture of different plastic types which cannot be separated from each other. For example, beverage bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), while their lids are usually made of polypropylene (PP). Such mixtures of incompatible plastics have a significantly negative impact on quality.

BASF researchers have addressed these problems by developing various plastic additive packages to specifically stabilize and improve the quality of recycled materials. Solutions such as compatibilizers will enhance the mechanical properties of polymer mixtures. This upgrades mechanically recycled plastics and the products made from them in a plastics cycle.

Plastic waste becomes a new feedstock for the chemical industry

Each year, 200 million metric tons of plastic waste worldwide go unrecycled. An important complement to mechanical recycling is chemical recycling, which takes a different approach to creating a circular economy for plastics. Chemical recycling transforms plastic waste into secondary raw materials, for example, through a thermochemical process called pyrolysis. The output of this process is pyrolysis oil, which can be used by the chemical industry to make new products. The advantages of this process are that it can also recycle mixed and unclean plastic waste streams. Moreover, products made from pyrolysis oil are indistinguishable from conventional products, so they can be deployed in even the most demanding applications. This means that, for the first time ever, automotive components, medical devices and even food packaging can be made from this kind of plastic waste.

To advance this promising technology, BASF launched its ChemCyclingTM project in 2018. Together with cooperation partners, BASF researchers are working on further developing and improving the process to produce pyrolysis oil from mixed plastic waste. Developing suitable catalysts for the new process technology is an important aspect of this. These catalysts aim to ensure that high-purity pyrolysis oil is always produced, even when the composition of the plastic waste varies.

More information about the presentations at the Research Press Conference and further examples relating to the circular economy at BASF can be found at: basf.com/research-press-conference

The retail store chain is constantly looking for and applying such innovative solutions with which it contributes to environmental sustainability and provides quality service to the customers. In the spirit of this, SPAR with its professional partner extends further its electric charger station network.

In the framework of the cooperation made in 2019 between SPAR and NKM Mobilitás Kft. (National Public Utilities Mobility Ltd.), Mobility installed by the end of January 2020 in the area of the retail store chain at 17 sites 33 AC-chargers with the capacity of 2×22 kW, which could be occupied from 1^st February 2020 by the customers using electric cars.

„The electric car charger stations installed by SPAR have an important role in the sustainability programme of the company and also in the development of the customer experience. The charger devices contribute to the reduction of the environmental pressures and help the customers arriving to the SPAR and INTERSPAR stores. In the following period, the number of electric cars is increasing further in Hungary, and we also adapt to the changing circumstances, therefore with the cooperation of our professional partner, NKM Mobilitás Kft., we are continuously extending our electric charger stations” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication at SPAR. He emphasized that during 2020, the electric car charger network was extended further. As a result of the companies’ cooperation, in the parking lot of 20 new selected super- and hypermarkets – by the order and financing of the store chain – 48 similar to the previous ones AC-quick chargers with maximum charging capacity of 2×22 kW will be connected to the system. After the closing of the project, more than 80 charger devices with double charger head will be available in the parking lots of 37 stores of the SPAR-group for the customers arriving with electric cars.

Besides the service of electric car users and support of driving electric cars, the environmental aspects have also great importance. The accelerating development of charger stations contributes to the reduction of the environmental pressures. The first device was installed in 2019, in the meantime until 31^st October 2020, the drivers loaded 16 352 kWh energy that is enough to drive nearly 90 000 zero emission kilometres. With the energy loaded with the SPAR chargers, a today’s new modern electric car (considering the 13 kWh/100 km capacity) could have circled the Earth even three times.