ALDI LOOKS TO SAVE 68 MILLION PIECES OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BY REMOVING LIDS FROM OWN-LABEL PRODUCTS
9 March 2020
Aldi is removing all plastic lids on its own-label fresh cream and ready-to-drink coffee products, as part of its ongoing campaign to reduce single-use plastics.
From March, the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket will stock these products without unnecessary plastic lids in over 780 stores across England and Wales.
This initiative will remove around 34 million pieces of single-use plastic from the market. In addition, from the end of February, Aldi will trial the removal of plastic lids from its large Greek-style flavoured yogurt pots. If successful, this will be rolled out across all 500g yogurt pots, eliminating a further 34 million pieces of plastic.
These moves are the supermarket’s latest steps to scrap unnecessary plastic as it works towards reducing plastic packaging by 25% by the end of 2023. Fritz Walleczek, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi, said: “We are committed to cutting the amount of plastic that Aldi and our customers use, particularly unnecessary, single-use plastic like secondary lids. “Every step like this brings us closer to our target of reducing the amount of plastic we use in packaging by 25%.” Aldi is on track to have all own-label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022. Since 2018, it has removed more than 2,200 tonnes of plastic and replaced almost 3,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives.
ENDS
Aldi is Britain’s fifth largest supermarket with over 874 stores and 33,000 employees.
The company has more than doubled its market share since 2010. In the 12 weeks to 26th January 2020, Aldi grew sales by 5.7% and it achieved a 7.9% share of the UK grocery market (Kantar Worldpanel data). By 2025, Aldi will operate over 1,200 stores.
The company’s current achievements and initiatives include:
Aldi is the UK’s lowest priced supermarket. The Grocer’s weekly price comparison of 33 supermarket products found that a weekly shop at Aldi was 8.1% cheaper than its nearest competitor (The Grocer – 7th February 2020)
Aldi has a five-year partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust – its fundraising target of £5m will go towards helping the trust to reach out to every young person with cancer in the UK.
Aldi’s rates of pay are significantly higher than the Government’s National Living Wage and also above the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended national rates. Store Assistants receive a minimum hourly rate of £9.40 nationally and £10.90 in London.
Aldi is the official supermarket partner of Team GB and ensures every member of the team has access to fresh healthy Aldi food via monthly shopping vouchers, and that 1.2 million 5-14 year olds will learn about the benefits of cooking fresh, healthy food via its Get Set to Eat Fresh education initiative. Aldi has been a partner since 2015 and has extended its commitment to the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.
