Aldi Ireland is trialling 100% home compostable bags across its 1kg Irish Rooster Potato range, becoming the first retailer in Ireland to do so.
If successful, the new packaging would help remove five tonnes of non-recyclable plastic packaging from stores each year across Aldi’s 1kg Irish Rooster Potato range, a change which would impact more than a million bags of potatoes annually.
Customers will find the new 100% home compostable packaging around Aldi’s 1kg Irish Rooster Potatoes.
The trial is part of Aldi’s long-term plastic reduction programme, which aims to ensure 100% of its own-label packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2022.
Aldi has been working with two of its Irish suppliers; Keogh’s Potatoes and Iverk Produce over the past year to introduce the new eco-friendly packaging across all its 143 Irish stores.
The new packaging is made from a blend of compostable materials, meaning customers can place the packaging in their compost heap at home instead of having to put it in the brown bin to be sent to an industrial composting facility.
If the trial is successful, Aldi intends on implementing the initiative fully across its 1kg Irish Rooster Potato range.
Commenting, John Curtin, Aldi Group Buying Director, said: “Trialling this new home compostable packaging across our 1kg Irish Rooster bags is another step towards reducing the amount of non-recyclable plastic packaging used across our stores.
"Customers can place the bags on their compost heap at home once they are finished with them, to be broken down and used again in the garden.
"The bags can also be placed into the compost bin, which in turn will be collected by the local waste collection company and broken down at their composting facility.”
Aldi recently announced it was the first retailer in Ireland to completely remove non-detectable black plastic from its core food product range, saving 410 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste.
Aldi also recently announced that it had introduced recyclable and compostable packaging around its fresh herbs, as well as introducing 100% recyclable cardboard trays across its pizza ranges.
Since introducing its plastic-reduction strategy in March 2018, Aldi has removed more than 600 tonnes of plastic from its 143 Irish stores, replaced over 870 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives and removed 490 tonnes of packaging from its core ranges.
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