Aldi is to trial four new lines of loose fruit and vegetables, in a move that will see the supermarket remove a further 94 tonnes of packaging each year if rolled out across all Aldi stores.
The trial will take place in select stores starting from this week – with shoppers in the North East, Cumbria, Yorkshire, South East and London able to purchase loose garlic and limes.
Shoppers in the East of England, East Midlands and London will also be able to purchase loose oranges.
The move builds on Aldi’s existing range of loose product lines including potatoes, peppers and avocadoes.
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox each morning
It follows other sustainability moves by Aldi, such as ditching single-use wooden forks from its Food to Go range, trialling a mince pack alternative which cut plastic use by 75% and removing use by dates in order to cut food waste.
As part of its ‘Fairer, Greener, Healthier’ policy the supermarket has a commitment to reduce plastic packaging by 50% by 2025, and to halve food waste by 2030.
“At Aldi we are committed to removing plastic packaging wherever possible and we are constantly reviewing ways to make a real difference,” said Aldi plastics and packaging director Luke Emery.
“By trialling these packaging-free produce lines, we hope to help customers cut back on unnecessary plastic when shopping at Aldi.”
Aldi is not the only supermarket to trial sustainability measures like this, with other supermarkets adopting similar measures such as reduced plastic packaging on mince and using clear plastic tops on milk bottles.
Meanwhile, a supermarket plastic bag fee helped to change consumer behaviour and reduced plastic bag use across UK supermarkets by 98%.
