Three New Bags

Aldi is set to start the new year off greener! Beginning in January 2020, all 139 of its stores in Ireland will have three new eco-friendly bag options in place of single-use plastic bags. The transition will see 12.5 million plastic bags being replaced by 100% compostable options every year.

The three new bags include – loose produce bags, Aldi Reusable Shopping Bags, and reusable and recyclable Paper Bags for Life. All bags for loose fruits and vegetables are going to be 100% compostable, as well as the Aldi Shopping Bags. The Paper Bag for Life will be reusable and recyclable. Of the 12.5 million bags, 10 million of them will be produce bags, and the rest will be shopping bags.

John Curtin, Group Buying Director at Aldi Ireland, said:

We are very proud to be the first retailer in Ireland to offer customers biodegradable and plastic-free alternatives to our entire produce and carrier bag range, including fruit and vegetable bags, standard carrier bags and Bags for Life. With 139 supermarkets in the Republic of Ireland, we are excited to see the environmental impact this new initiative will have in communities across the country.

All the compostable bags will be suitable for regular compost bins. They are made from pasted corn starch and can carry up to 12 kilograms. The recyclable paper bags are made from FSC certified eco-friendly paper and printed with sustainable water inks. They can carry up to 20 kilograms.

By the end of 2020, Aldi aims to eliminate packaging that is hard to recycle from their core range of foods as well. For example, expanded polystyrene, PVC, and non-detectable black plastic. Aldi already banned undetectable black plastic packaging from its fruit and vegetable range and fresh beef range earlier this year. That move saw 8.15 million non-recyclable black plastic trays removed from stores annually.

Future Plans

These bags are only the beginning! Aldi has a bigger target in sight: to reduce plastic packaging overall by 25% by the end of 2023. These bags are just one step towards this primary goal. The next step towards that main goal is to ensure that 100% of its Aldi label packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by the end of 2022.