Aldi to bring in reusable fruit and veg bags in Aviemore
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The Highlands is to become a testing ground for a supermarket initiative to tackle plastic waste.
Aldi stores in the region, including its Aviemore outlet, will be trialling reusable bags for loose fruit and vegetables in an effort to cut single-use plastics from the end of this month
The supermarket giant will start selling drawstring bags made from recycled plastic bottles at 25p each as a more sustainable alternative to the current bags.
Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi, said: “We are committed to cutting the amount of plastic that Aldi and our customers use, particularly excess or single-use plastic like produce bags.
“We are hopeful that our customers in the Highlands will embrace these new reusable produce bags whenever they’re buying loose fruit and veg and, together, we will be able to take more than 100 tonnes of plastic a year out of circulation.”
The pilot is Aldi’s latest step to reduce unnecessary plastic as it works towards reducing plastic packaging by 25 per cent by the end of 2023.
If introduced nationally, the initiative is expected to remove the equivalent of 113 tonnes of single-use plastic from circulation each year.
Earlier this year, Aldi trialled selling cabbages and cauliflowers without any plastic packaging in all Scottish stores and is committed to have all own-label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022.
Since 2018, it said to have removed more than 550 tonnes of plastic and replaced almost 3,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives.
The chain opened its first store in Scotland 25 years ago and has been running a dedicated Scottish Buying Department for 10 years.
A company spokesperson said the company is committed to increase its range of Scottish products from 400 to over 450 by the end of 2020.
