Aldi is rolling out soft plastic collection points to almost all its UK stores, following a trial launched last year.
Aldi said the 20-store trial had been successful and many more customers would now be able to return all types of soft plastic, including carrier bags and crisp packets, regardless of where they were bought.
It said it expected to collect up to 1,000 tonnes of plastic a year once the bins were installed in over 800 stores nationwide – a process that will be complete by the end of this year.
Flexible plastic makes up 22% of all UK citizen packaging and yet 87% of UK local authorities do not collect it for recycling, according to a recent report by the Changing Markets Foundation.
Aldi is one of nine supermarkets to offer soft plastic collection points in stores, the others being Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Aldi said it worked closely with its partners to ensure none of the collected material went to landfill. It said collected material would be recycled wherever possible and all recycling would be done in the UK. It said its recycling partner was Jayplas.
“We are always striving to reduce plastic waste wherever possible, and we know how important this is to our customers,” said Aldi UK plastic & packaging director Richard Gorman.
“This rollout is a step in the right direction and provides our shoppers with an easy option to recycle their problematic soft plastic packaging in the UK.
“We hope customers utilise our collection bins to help us make a positive change by recycling more waste.”
Wrap head of business collaboration Helen Bird said: “In future years, this packaging will be collected directly from people’s homes and places of work, but solutions are urgently needed today to tackle the growing mountain of waste.
“Many citizens have shown that they are willing to take plastic bags and wrapping to their local food stores for recycling, and this move by Aldi means that more people across the UK will be able to do just that.”
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