Aldi launches soft plastic collection trial
Aldi is piloting collection facilities for soft plastics in selected stores in England as it looks to help customers recycle problem materials.
The supermarket will provide collection bins at 20 of its shops across Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester to enable customers to deposit clean, soft plastic packaging.
Customers will be able to return all types of these materials including crisp packets, salad bags, bread bags and carrier bags irrespective of where the the items were purchased. Aldi will then work with its recycling partner to establish the best routes for the plastics to be processed.
If successful, the project will be rolled out across all 900 Aldi stores in the UK.
Aldi is also working towards making 100% of its own-label packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2022.
Richard Gorman, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, said: “We know our customers are environmentally-conscious, and as a responsible retailer, we are always striving to reduce plastic waste wherever possible. Our latest trial is another step in the right direction, as we work towards being able to offer shoppers an option to bring back to our stores problem plastic that might not be recycled by their local councils.
“We will be monitoring the trial closely, and we hope that customers utilise our collection bins so that we can look at expanding this into more stores.”
