Aldi has started selling cabbages and cauliflower without any plastic packaging in Scotland.
The six-week trial, which is now underway, focuses on five veg lines: savoy cabbage, red cabbage, white cabbage, pointed cabbage and cauliflower.
Expected to save half a tonne of plastic in Scotland, the initiative would remove more than 110t of plastic wrapping a year from Aldi’s fresh produce lines if it were rolled out across the UK.
The move follows the supermarket’s decision last year to phase out hard-to-recycle black plastic trays on four fresh produce lines, replacing them with clear, recyclable alternatives.
Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said: “We’re working hard to reduce plastic, but we also need to ensure that reducing packaging doesn’t lead to unnecessary food waste. We’re hoping the outcome of this trial will be positive, and something that we can roll out across the rest of the UK.”
Since March 2018, Aldi has replaced more than 2,500t of plastic across its range with recyclable alternatives, and the supermarket is working to make 100 per cent of its own-brand packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.
