“Naked” fruit & veg: Aldi extends plastic-free fresh produce trial to England

Grocery giant Aldi UK is extending a trial of removing plastic packaging from fresh vegetable lines to parts of England, after a pilot programme in Scotland reduced more than 3 tonnes of plastic.

Aldi removes plastic packaging from fresh vegetable lines in England trial

Following the success of the plastic-free veg trial in Scotland, supermarket chain Aldi UK has announced 230 stores in the North East and South East of England will implement a similar initiative in early July. If successful, Aldi plans to roll out the plastic-free produce lines to all stores before the end of the year. The company estimates that a nationwide rollout would avoid the use of more than 100 tonnes of plastic a year.

Aldi trials loose vegetables initiative in England after Scotland trial success

Aldi UK and Ireland’s managing director of corporate responsibility, Fritz Walleczek, announced: “The trial of so-called ‘naked’ vegetables has had a very positive reception in Scotland and, as a result, we’re now looking to extend this trial into two of our regions in England.

“Cutting waste is at the heart of what we do. Where we can, our aim is to remove unnecessary plastic entirely without leading to unnecessary food waste. Where we can’t do that, we are committed to ensuring that packaging doesn’t end up as waste by ensuring that all ours is recyclable, reusable or compostable.”

The announcement builds on the retailer’s sweeping array of plastic pledges, which were unveiled last March as part of an update to its sustainability strategy.

Commitments include a ban on single-use plastic bags, with all 5p bags having been removed from Aldi UK stores as of January, and a pledge to ensure all packaging on its own-label is reusable, recyclable or compostable before 2022. 

Other pledges include reducing plastic packaging by 25% by the end of 2023. Since setting these ambitions, Aldi UK has replaced more than 2,500 tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastics with recyclable alternatives. 

Key switches have included removing black plastics from several of its best-selling produce lines, including all fruit and vegetable, that will replace more than 300 tonnes of the hard-to-recycle material each year.

Eliminating polystyrene discs from its own-brand pizzas and re-designing all packaging for its Ashfield Farm meat products have also been prioritised.

Aldi UK is also striving to increase the proportion of recycled materials in its own-brand packaging, and recently re-designed its range of plastic pasta pots to include 95% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.

Elsewhere in its plastics strategy, Aldi UK has given its backing to a national deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.

Aldi will report on overall progress each year and, to help hit those targets, they are creating a packaging task force – made up of both independent experts and those from within their business – to drive innovation.

Source: Edie.net

The Aldi 10 Plastic and Packaging Pledges

1. By 2022 Aldi aims for 100% of all own label packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable (where it does not have a detrimental effect on product quality or safety, or increase food waste).
2. By 2025 Aldi aims to achieve 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging across all products (where it does not have a detrimental effect on product quality or safety, or increase food waste).
3. By 2025, Aldi aims to reduce packaging by 50% (relative to 2015 baseline).
4. By 2025 Aldi aims for 50% of its packaging to be made from recycled material.
5. Aldi will publicly report on its packaging progress annually starting in 2019.
6. Aldi will educate customers on the importance of waste reduction (reduce, reuse, recycle) through its community programmes.
7. All single-use plastic bags will be scrapped by the end of 2018.
8. Aldi will work in partnership with other retailers to reduce its dependence on plastic.
9. Aldi will establish a Packaging Task Force with its Buying Teams and external experts to deliver these goals.
10. In principal Aldi supports a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles and is conducting a feasibility study into how it could implement such a scheme.

Source: Aldi.co.uk

In other UK supermarket news:

SUPERMARKET CHAIN ALDI ANNOUNCES 100% SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING BY 2025 

MORRISONS THE FIRST UK SUPERMARKET TO INTRODUCE PLASTIC-FREE AREAS FOR FRUIT AND VEG

UK SUPERMARKET ICELAND LAUNCHES LOOSE FRUIT & VEG AISLE IN PLASTIC-FREE DRIVE