Aldi stores in Edinburgh and the Lothians are to trial reusable bags for loose fruit and vegetables in an effort to cut single-use plastics.
From the end of November, more than 14 stores across Edinburgh and the Lothians will offer the bags as a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastic.
The drawstring bags are made from recycled plastic bottles and will be sold for 25p each.
This is the supermarket’s latest step to reduce unnecessary plastic as it works towards reducing plastic packaging by 25% by the end of 2023.
If introduced nationally, the initiative will remove the equivalent of 113 tonnes of single-use plastic from circulation each year.
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 across Edinburgh and the Lothians 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.”
Earlier this year, Aldi trialled selling cabbages and cauliflowers without any plastic packaging in all Scottish stores.
Aldi is on track to have all own-label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022. Since 2018, it has removed more than 550 tonnes of plastic and replaced almost 3,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Aldi opening its first store in Scotland and the 10th anniversary of the creation of its dedicated Scottish Buying Department.
The supermarket was recently crowned Scottish Sourcing Business of the Year at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, recognised for its strong relationships with over 90 local suppliers and commitment to increasing its range of Scottish products from 400 to over 450 by the end of 2020.
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