Everybody in France is familiar with Blédina, a brand dedicated to baby food. The famed name is bringing back the deposit of baby food jars.

What was a very popular practice decades ago is coming back into fashion, in an effort to protect the environment… The year is 1960. The most famous French brand of baby food, Jacquemaire, creates a revolutionary product – the small glass jar. This innovation metamorphosed the daily habits of babies and mothers. A variety of recipes ranging from pureed fruit compotes to vegetables and meat preparations now make up the menu for babies. This innovation led the company to change its name to Blédina in 1962.

The company recently conducted a life-size experiment with multi-portion jars to go even further by reducing the weight of packaging for the same quantity of purées as the classic little jars. The product was available throughout 2021 and 2022 in Carrefour shops.

Blédina explains that the 20-month time frame in selected shops was conducted in order to better assess and understand consumer habits before rolling out the offer nationwide.

The test allowed the company to set up a system for returning, sorting and washing the jars in an effort to create the best range of returnable baby jars.

The jar return trend

Blédina is working with various partners to create this new virtuous loop for the environment.

Carrefour offers a range of returnable products on its e-commerce platform and in various shops Loop, and takes care of collecting and sorting the packaging in the Ile de France region. Blédina is also studying their know-how in cleaning jars. Uzaje and Loop are working on cleaning methods for the jars so that they can be returned to Blédina as new, with full control of food safety requirements.

Blédina’s environmental objectives are as follows:

• 100% of Blédina’s packaging must become recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025!

• Reduce the dependence on brand-new plastic and continue to increase the proportion of recycled materials in the brand’s various containers.

• Reduce the weight of packaging by limiting, for example, single use in favour of multi-purpose containers.