Aldi has announced it is trialling its first collection facilities for soft plastics in select stores in the North of England and East Midlands, in a bid to help customers recycle problem materials.
The discount supermarket said it would provide collection bins across 20 of its stores in locations such as Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, where customers can deposit clean, soft plastic packaging.
The collection bins allow customers to return all types of these materials, which include crisp packets, salad bags, bread bags and carrier bags – regardless of where the items were purchased.
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Aldi added that it would then work with its recycling partner to establish the best routes for the plastics to be processed.
According to the retailer, if the trial is successful, the collection bins would be rolled out across all of its Aldi UK stores.
The trial is the latest move to reduce plastic waste by Aldi, which is also working towards 100 per cent of its own-label packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2022.
“We know our customers are environmentally-conscious, and as a responsible retailer, we are always striving to reduce plastic waste wherever possible,” Aldi plastics and packaging director Richard Gorman said.
“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.”
