Aldi is to trial vacuum and flow-wrap packed packaging across its beef mince products – cutting the amount of plastic used by up to 73 percent.
The trial aims to understand which packaging customers prefer alongside helping the supermarket further reduce plastic waste.
The new packaging removes the need for a paper lining, and no carbon dioxide is used in production, delivering further environmental benefits without affecting the quality or taste of the product.
The new vacuum packaging is expected to increase the shelf life of beef mince by keeping it fresher for longer. It is now live and being used across select Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, and Worcestershire stores.
Luke Emery, Plastics and Packaging Director at Aldi said the supermarket constantly reviewed ways to become more environmentally friendly and reduce plastic where possible.
“These trials promise a range of environmental benefits without affecting quality and could significantly reduce plastic, food miles and food waste if rolled out across all stores.”
The move comes following Aldi’s switch to colourless milk caps across all of its 990 UK stores to improve the recyclability of the bottles further.
The rollout will mean a further 200 tonnes of High-Density Polythene (rHDPE) in the bottle tops can be reused to create new milk bottles.
