Packaging is an indispensable part of our everyday lives, helping us to deliver quality products to our customers. It keeps food fresh, makes it easier to handle, and prevents food waste. It is important to consider the way in which we buy, use, and dispose of packaging. The ALDI SOUTH Group is working towards more sustainable packaging in the areas of material reduction, recyclability, and recycled content.
Packaging is essential to modern living
The evolution of modern packaging has helped our world move forward in many ways. Whether it is plastic, paper, metal, glass, or even wood, packaging brings many benefits to retailers and customers.
While it keeps food fresh for longer, protects it, makes transportation easier, and helps customers make informed choices, we know that packaging requires high levels of raw materials, energy, water, and effective waste management. As a retailer with a high proportion of own-label products, we take responsibility for our packaging from design to disposal.
How can we make packaging better
At the ALDI SOUTH Group, we are working to reduce raw material usage, save energy and improve water intensity, as well as to manage waste correctly. Our first step is to set ambitious goals for our own-brand product packaging to reduce material usage, increase recyclability, and incorporate recycled content.
By working with our buying departments, our suppliers, packaging manufacturers, and external partners, we are constantly looking for ways to optimise our current packaging and explore new solutions.
Our packaging goals:
- To make 100% of own-brand packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
- We will increase the recycled content used in our plastic product packaging. Our goal is to achieve 30% recycled content in our own-brand plastic packaging.
- We will minimise the material needed for our packaging, wherever possible. We will reduce new plastic made from crude oil and used for product packaging. Our goal is to reduce own-brand packaging material by 15%, and the amount of virgin plastic in our own-brand packaging by 40%.
ALDI’s International Recyclability Guidelines offer clear recommendations for sustainable packaging design. They were developed to assist our suppliers and purchasing teams in optimizing packaging and enhancing communication across the supply chain. We have made our guideline publicly available to share further insight into national specific recyclability systems. They encompass comprehensive details on the recycling infrastructure of 18 ALDI SOUTH and ALDI Nord countries. The guidelines not only adhere to existing standards within each market but anticipates and prepares for future regulatory requirements.
ALDI’s International Recyclability Guidelines offer clear recommendations for sustainable packaging design. They were developed to assist our suppliers and purchasing teams in optimizing packaging and enhancing communication across the supply chain. We have made our guideline publicly available to share further insight into national specific recyclability systems. They encompass comprehensive details on the recycling infrastructure of 18 ALDI SOUTH and ALDI Nord countries. The guidelines not only adhere to existing standards within each market but anticipates and prepares for future regulatory requirements.
Reducing our packaging carbon footprint
We have set ambitious global targets for packaging, focusing on our own-brand packaging through design optimisation and direct engagements with packaging suppliers. We also work with recyclers to access recycled content and utilise it in our packaging. Some of our specific actions include transitioning to clear caps, setting up in-store collection systems, encouraging home composting, eliminating plastic shopping bags, and removing plastic shrink wraps from bulk items.
- We are working to make our own brand packaging recyclable.
- We are implementing Reuse and Refill systems to help us transition to a circular economy.
- We are exploring sustainable end-of-life solutions, for example compostable packaging solutions.
- We are conserving primary resources by increasing the amount of recycled content in plastic packaging.
- We are minimising packaging and reducing our use of virgin plastic.
Best practices in our ALDI markets:
Fully recycable handwash pumps
ALDI UK has removed the glass and metal components from its own-label pumps, making it fully recyclable and saving 200 tonnes of packaging material a year.
Reusable beverage bottles
ALDI SÜD Germany has introduced reusable glass and PET beverage bottles through a deposit return system.
Home composting made easy
ALDI Ireland have introduced 100% home compostable steak trays made of sugarcane pulp. These save 67 tonnes of plastic and 52 tonnes of cardboard per year.
Beverage bottles made from 100% rPET
Nearly all the non-alcoholic beverage bottles sold in Austria are made from 100 % rPET. This saves 3,300 tonnes of virgin plastic every year.
No more plastic shopping bags in US stores
ALDI is the first major retailer in the US to remove all plastic shopping bags from their stores at the end of 2023. Approximately 4,400 tons of plastic will be prevented from going in circulation each year.
Ways of improving our ALDI packaging
While packaging is indispensable for many products, it often ends up as waste. Offering a wide range of own-label products, gives us an influence on our packaging. We work closely with our buying departments, suppliers, packaging manufacturers, and recycling partners to optimise our packaging and develop new solutions. And there is no limit to creativity - from recycled and recycable packaging for dishwasher caps to lightway and paper wine bottles.
Packaging and the circular economy
The ALDI SOUTH Group believes it is essential to drive our industry forward and to play our part in moving from a linear to a circular economy, away from incineration and landfilling. By eliminating, reusing, and recycling packaging, we can ensure that more packaging materials remain within the recycling loop.
The ALDI SOUTH Group and ALDI Nord are taking part in the 3rd phase of the HolyGrail 2.0 initiative, a program driven by AIM-European Brands Associations and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Adding watermark technology to packaging will help to improve sorting in waste facilities and boost recycling for a circular economy.
Find out more about our policies, initiatives, and projects for sustainable packaging. The Packaging Factsheet provides information about the ALDI SOUTH Group for benchmarking inquiries.
Source: *Our World in Data, **Eurostat, ***Statista
