Aldi to cut food waste with crownless pineapple trial

Aldi is trialling the sale of crownless pineapples in its latest move to reduce food waste.

With the crown of the pineapple often being thrown away by shoppers, the UK’s fourth largest supermarket will be removing the green leaves from its pineapples during the production process for recycling instead.

The removed crowns will either be used to cultivate next year’s crop or converted into animal feed, reducing food waste by an estimated 1,400 tonnes annually if the change is rolled out across stores.

The crownless pineapples are now available in select stores in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East.

By removing the crowns, Aldi will also be able to fit more of the product into boxes to be transported to stores, meaning a potential reduction of around 187 tonnes of cardboard annually if the trial is successful.

Liz Fox, national sustainability director at Aldi, said: “At Aldi, we are committed to finding sustainable solutions that benefit both our customers and the environment.

“This trial of crownless pineapples is just one of the latest innovative changes we’re testing out to minimise waste and reduce our carbon footprint.”