Supermarket chain Aldi announced this week (23 September) it was rolling out recycling bins for front-of-store soft plastics at more than 800 of its shops across the UK.
The roll-out follows the “success” of a 16-week trial the supermarket carried out at 20 of its stores across Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester last year (see letsrecycle.com story).
By the end of the year, Aldi says, customers will be able to return clean soft plastic packaging including crisp packets, salad bags, bread bags and carrier bags at “most” of its UK stores.
Richard Gorman, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, said: “We are always striving to reduce plastic waste wherever possible, and we know how important this is to our customers.
“This roll-out is a step in the right direction and provides our shoppers with an easy option to recycle their problematic soft plastic packaging in the UK.”
An Aldi spokesperson told letsrecycle.com it was working with plastics recycling business Jayplas to recycle the material it collected. Jayplas is currently commissioning a washing and pelletising plant for used film in Loughborough and has plans for a plant near Cardiff which would process film from materials recycling facilities (see letsrecycle.com story).
Aldi “works closely with our partners” to ensure no plastic from its stores or collection points is sent to landfill and everything is recycled “wherever possible”, the spokesperson said. All the materials will be recycled in the UK, the spokesperson said.