At Falabella we manage our waste to reduce the amount sent to landfills. We are committed to reducing the impact of our business on local communities using best practices that include carefully managing hazardous waste, reducing non-hazardous waste and recovering raw materials using circular economy principles.
This is embodied in our Environmental and Climate Change Policy, which requires our companies to implement an environmental compliance program, to reduce their waste and increase reusing and recycling it.
Our Environmental and Climate Change Policy can be found here.
Our waste
Waste is produced by our business due to a variety of sources that include:
Customers and visitors to our stores, bank branches and shopping centers
Food and beverages consumed in stores and shopping centers
Food produced by food courts and restaurants in our shopping centers
Retail logistics associated with product commercialization or operational packaging
Product shrinkage in supermarkets, department stores and home improvement stores
Employees in our central offices and bank branches with administrative duties
This waste is comprised of various materials that are correctly collected, segregated and transported to their final destination. Recovery is when waste material or its energy content is partially or totally recovered and subsequently integrated back into the value chain. Waste recovery methods include:
Repair and reuse
Recycling products and consumables, such as paper and cardboard
Industrial composting for organic waste
Energy recovery by incineration at technological landfills 
Recovery = (reuse + recycle + compost + energy recovery) / Total waste x 100
The measurement coverage is total revenue for banking and non-banking business units covered, expressed as a percentage of total consolidated revenue for Falabella S.A.
Environmental management and compliance
Our internal governance ensures that our companies execute compliance programs that meet each respective country’s regulations. This results in monitoring programs, dedicated roles within each company, declarations to the authorities, and procedures for responding to preventive inspections. We believe that it is essential for regulators, the public sector and the private sector to collaborate in minimizing environmental risks.
Our companies have been pioneers in Chile by adopting the Extended Producer Responsibility Law (Law 20,920) and creating the first collective management system for priority waste. Our supermarkets and department stores have implemented zero waste pilots by applying Clean Production Agreements (CPAs) in alliance with the Environment Ministry. This initiative has resulted in pilot stores recovering over 70% of their waste.
Innovation and Circularity
Our business units have strengthened their commitment to circularity, as this not only benefits them, but also their stakeholders. Innovation and circularity has reduced the amount of virgin raw materials used, while reducing the waste generated by the business. Some of our respective initiatives are described below.
Operational material management
Falabella Retail and Tottus have introduced a plastic hanger recovery program, which transforms them into pellets that can be used to manufacture new hangers or other products formed from recycled materials. Since 2019 Falabella Retail has recovered 12 million hangers, equivalent to 670 tons, from stores in Santiago. Meanwhile, Tottus has only recently introduced this project and uses far fewer hangers, so it had collected 200 kg of plastic by 2021 at the five pilot stores. This project will be extended to the remaining Tottus facilities during 2022.
Sodimac produces sustainable mulch. This was developed in partnership with the waste management company Armony, and aims to transform pallets from its stores into a material that covers planter or garden surfaces for decorative purposes and to prevent water evaporation. It also makes multipurpose compost from plant and wood waste at its stores. During 2021, over 1,000 tons of operational wood waste were recycled, which produced over 627,000 liters of mulch and over two million liters of compost.
Recycling services for customers
Sodimac provides a domestic furniture and white goods collection and recycling service, while Falabella Retail recycles mattresses, household appliances, white goods, exercise machines, televisions and bicycles, following an alliance formed with Midas and Rembre. These are two leading reuse and recycling companies in Chile.
Furthermore, Sodimac provides communities with National Recycling Network stations, which is the largest private recycling network in the country and already has 20 stations distributed throughout Chile. Since its creation in 2010, it has recycled over 22,000 tons of waste and received over 3.8 million visitors.
Donated clothing and textiles
Falabella Retail has also formed alliances with foundations, such as Niño y Cáncer, Banco de Ropa, Ciudad del Niño, La Protectora, Corpaliv, schools in the Haciendo Escuela Program and others. The aim is to donate clothing and fabrics to help those who need them most and extend the useful life of thousands of products.
Wasted food
Organic waste management significantly reduces the waste sent to landfills, it thereby reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases compost production and takes advantage of resources to generate new products.
+ Reduction of food loss
At Tottus we have daily review processes for products not suitable for sale, classifying them and leaving them in authorized sectors. This waste is recorded, analyzed and managed according to its destination - be it donation, return to the supplier, or appropriate disposal. A daily review of the store's loss report is made from the inventory module and the sale of the previous day. In this way, we maintain a constant and verified measurement of food loss and waste.
To reduce these losses, the food is appropriately labeled with its expiration date and a constant review of them is maintained in the gondola. In some product categories such as prepared dishes and pastries, discount labels are generated on products that are about to expire and are available on the gondola for easy access by our customers.
+ Alternative uses for food waste
Mallplaza is committed to achieving a 60% waste recovery rate in its shopping centers by 2025. Accordingly, it has installed internal biodigesters and composting facilities at its Egaña, Los Dominicos and Norte shopping centers, which recover the organic waste produced by tenants while preparing food. The company also has five active composting facilities at its Egaña, Sur, Tobalaba, Oeste and Trébol shopping centers. These are used to compost the waste produced when pruning their green areas, which is used as fertilizer in their gardens.
Tottus aims to positively contribute to its local communities, by donating food, reducing waste and combating hunger. This vocation in Peru has resulted in a collaborative alliance with the Food Bank, to which the Huachipa Logistics Center and over 15 stores nationwide donate fruit, vegetables and consumer products.
Tottus Chile is developing a farinaceous waste recovery project, which consists of segregating its dry organic waste, such as bread, cakes, legumes, dried fruit, cookies, dough and other waste, and sending it to a plant operated by EccoFeed. This company is an expert in collecting surpluses from the food industry and transforming them into raw materials that can be used to produce animal feed.
Resource center
Environmental and Climate Change Policy