Late last week Aldi UK announced an ambitious new commitment to reduce the volume of plastic packaging used by 50% by 2025.

The new commitment will see the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket remove 74,000 tons of plastic packaging during the next five years, the equivalent to 2.2bn single items of plastic.

To achieve this target, Aldi will work to remove and reduce unnecessary packaging and switch to alternative materials. Where plastic is required, it will be recyclable and made of recycled material wherever possible.

The new target is part of Aldi’s overall strategy to ensure that all private brand products are recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022 and branded products sold at Aldi by 2025.  

Since introducing its plastic-reduction strategy in March 2018, Aldi has removed more than 6,000 tons of plastic and replaced over 3,200 tons of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives.

Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer – Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “We are stepping up our efforts to reduce the amount of plastic packaging used across our business because it is the right thing to do for a sustainable future. We know this issue matters to our customers too and are confident they will support our initiatives to reduce plastic in the coming years.”

Aldi has been working closely with its suppliers in recent months to develop innovative ways to reduce avoidable plastics. These include replacing plastic wrapping on toilet rolls with a paper alternative, removing over lids from cream and yogurts and eradicating plastic lids from packs of its private brand Mamia baby wipes.

Giles Hurley added: “We can only achieve our long-term plastic reduction targets with support from suppliers. The response we have received so far has been extremely positive and we look forward to working with them to develop further innovative packaging solutions.”