Aldi is on its way to reducing the amount of plastic used in its own-brand packaging by 25 per cent by 2025, with the supermarket giant already removing almost 2000 tonnes of plastic packaging and achieving a 10 per cent reduction across its fresh produce range in just a year.
When Aldi first made its ambitious commitment in 2019, the business evaluated the total amount of packaging across every one of its products.
Since then, the supermarket has been working closely with producers and manufacturers to remove plastics from its range, including sleeves, trays and labels, or replacing them with sustainable alternatives to reduce the overall plastic quantity across every one of its products.
Aldi achieved a reduction of plastic packaging of four per cent in the first year of the initiative, which has collectively avoided almost 2000 tonnes of plastics being introduced to the market.
The supermarket has been especially focused on removing plastics across its fresh produce, with plastic trays and wraps reduced by 10 per cent.
According to Daniel Baker, director corporate responsibility for Aldi, the organisation recognises its responsibility to minimise the use of plastics, stating eagle-eyed customers may have already noticed product packaging changes.
“Australian grocery buyers are informed and want to be able to make conscious purchasing decisions,” said Baker.
“Shoppers may have noticed changes such as our Yoconut dairy-free dessert tubs transitioning from plastic to paperboard packaging, and the removal of plastic trays from some packaged fresh fruit like apples and pears.
“These may seem like small changes, but they all add up to make a big difference. The next few years will see us continue to remove plastics from our range, and by 2025, all remaining packaging will be either recyclable, reusable or compostable.”
Almost all of Aldi’s apparel range is now packaged in cardboard, when garments used to be sold in plastic bags. Loyal shoppers may have noticed even smaller details, like the removal of the back label from some milk bottles, and 20-pack chips are now sold in a cardboard box, instead of a plastic bag.
There are also trials underway in different areas across Australia looking into packaging improvements like the introduction of recyclable cardboard bread tags and home compostable strawberry punnets.
Aldi’s packaging commitments put the business in step with the 2025 National Packaging Targets, which are supported by Australian industry and government, and take a prevention-first approach to deliver sustainable packaging.
Brooke Donnelly, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation’s (APCO) CEO, said it is pleasing to see businesses being proactive in taking steps to reduce their plastic footprint.
“Collectively, we have a huge task ahead of us to achieve the 2025 National Packaging Targets, however, it is fantastic to see Aldi step up to address this challenge through implementing solutions to reduce and improve the recyclability of packaging within their supply chain,” Donnelly said.
“Aldi is a founding member of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and a supporting partner of the Australian Dairy Sustainable Packaging Roadmap, both of which are industry leading actions that bring together industry stakeholders to take action to create a circular economy for plastics.”
Difficult to recycle black packaging, like that which you would find as a meat tray, has more than halved and 84 per cent of all packaging is now recyclable, reusable or compostable.
Further, more than 65 per cent of the Aldi range now carries the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL), removing confusion and enabling Australians who care about the environment, and want to do the right thing with the know-how.
“Aldi has already removed a number of unnecessary and problematic plastics from its range, last year swapping our single-use plastic tableware, saving 322 tonnes of plastic from landfill, as well as replacing plastic cotton buds with a paper-stemmed version, avoiding over 357 million plastic stems from ending up in landfill each year,” added Baker.
Aldi’s plastics and packaging commitments are just some of several sustainability initiatives in place across the business and supply chain.
By 2025 Aldi aims to send zero waste to landfill, which includes a goal to achieve zero food waste set to landfill by 2023. This year, the supermarket also announced it is 100 per cent powered with renewable electricity.
