Aldi is to ditch plastic packaging on tinned tuna multipacks, replacing it with a recyclable cardboard sleeve from next month.
The move will be launched as a two-month trial on four-packs of Aldi Tuna Chunks in about 270 stores across the Midlands, north west and south east. If deemed a success, it will be extended across Aldi’s UK estate of more than 830 UK stores, saving a claimed 11 tonnes of plastic a year.
It’s the latest step towards the discounter’s goal of phasing out “hard-to-recycle plastic” from its food products by the end of 2020.
Other measures include replacing black plastic ready meal trays, which cannot be detected by sorting machines in recycling centres, with coloured ones from this month. The new trays are made from recycled bottles and containers and are to be trialled on Aldi’s Inspired Cuisine range of six ready meals, including Shepherd’s Pie and Sausage & Mash.
Extended across all ready meals, the move would stand to save a further 420 tonnes of non-recyclable black plastic a year, according to Aldi.
“We’re constantly reviewing our product range to remove and replace single-use and hard-to-recycle plastic packaging,” said Fritz Walleczek, Aldi UK & Ireland MD of corporate responsibility.
“We’ve introduced a number of initiatives to reduce unnecessary plastic already this year.
“Cutting waste is such an important part of everything we do at Aldi, and these packaging innovations are another example of us doing just this.”
Aldi said it was on track to make all own label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.
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