Aldi pledges to cut plastic packaging by 50%
German discount retailer Aldi has said it will reduce the volume of plastic packaging used in its Irish operations by 50% by 2025.Aldi Ireland claimed it will remove 9,874 tonnes of plastic packaging during the next five years, or the equivalent of 200m single items of plastic.
Firms across Ireland have been scrambling to show their commitments to reducing plastic in the past year.
Irish companies are set to reduce plastic packaging waste by nearly 52% this year, according to environmental and recycling compliance group Repak last month.
From a survey of member firms, Repak said companies will reduce plastic packaging waste by 16,100 tonnes this year and use 21,000 tonnes of recycled plastic in production.
Aldi said it "will work to remove and reduce unnecessary packaging and switch to alternative materials" to achieve its target by 2025.
Where plastic is required, it will be recyclable and made of recycled material wherever possible, said the retailer.
The firm said the new 50% reduction commitment is part of its overall strategy to ensure all own-label products are recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2022 and branded products sold at Aldi by 2025.
It claimed to have removed more than 600 tonnes of plastic, replaced over 850 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives, and removed 490 tonnes of packaging from its core range since introducing a so-called plastic strategy in March 2018.
Aldi will report annual progress against its plastics and packaging targets via its website, it said.
