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Aldi to stop selling these everyday items by the end of 2020

Aldi will cease selling a host of everyday items in just a few months as part of its commitment to reducing plastics and packaging.

By the end of 2020, the retailer will no longer sell “problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics” including plastic straws, plastic disposable tableware and plastic stemmed cotton buds.

The items will be pulled from shelves in all stores nationwide under a plan revealed last year, which also featured a commitment to reduce plastic packaging by 25 per cent by 2025.

The news comes as Aldi UK revealed earlier this month that soft plastic bags supplied for customers to pack fruit and vegetables in would be removed from all its stores by the end of the year.

Photo shows an Aldi sign inside a store in Australia.
Aldi in Australia will cease selling a range of single-use plastic by the end of this year. Source: Google Maps

While Australia has no specific target for produce bags, the retailer said it would continue to “actively reduce the amount of plastic packaging in our fresh produce range and transition to more sustainable alternatives where possible, providing no increase in food waste”.

The retailer removed plastic bags from banana stands earlier this year, as well as plastic sleeves from spring onions and switched plastic punnets for cardboard trays.

Black plastic packaging was also set to be phased out across Australian stores, while packaging of Aldi’s exclusive brands would by the end of 2025 be 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable.

All paper and pulp-based packaging in Aldi’s everyday range is also set to either be FSC, PEFC or 70 per cent recycled by the end of 2020.

Photo shows the inside of an Aldi store.
The retailer has already stopped providing plastic bags at banana stands. Source: Google Maps

At least 30 per cent of plastic packaging will be made by recycled materials by the end of 2025 and the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) will be used on all Aldi branded products by the end of 2022.

Unlike Coles and Woolworths - both which have phased out single-use plastic shopping bags – Aldi has never given away plastic bags for free.

Coles and Woolworths banned single-use plastic bags in 2018 following public outcry, with each now selling reusable plastic bags for 15 cents.

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