Aldi Releases Aggressive Sustainability Plan

Most people who’ve heard of Aldi associate the store with low costs, good values, and a total lack of single use plastic bags. However, the German supermarket chain recently released a series of new sustainability initiatives, and according to Chain Store Age, they’re setting the bar pretty high for similar retailers.

What is the store proposing? Well…

• 100 percent of packaging used by the store will be recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025.
• 100 percent of Aldi-exclusive consumable packaging will have instructions for how to recycle it by 2020.
• Aldi will have an initiative in-place to make private-label packaging easier for customers to reuse by 2020.

While that might not sound like a big deal, it’s important to remember that Aldi has more than 60 stores along the Eastern seaboard, and many more across the United States. It’s far from the biggest chain in America, but it’s large enough that when it makes decisions, those decisions have a real, meaningful impact.

Sending A Message

Beyond Aldi simply making sure it’s reducing its carbon footprint and waste generated, though, this sustainability initiative goes a step further. It sends a message that it’s possible to reduce your waste, and to reduce, reuse, and recycle a majority of the content that comes through your doors. And if a company the size of Aldi can do it, then why can’t other retailers do the same?

Leading by example can make a big difference when it comes to enacting policy, and getting people’s attention in the arena of being an eco-friendly company. While Aldi may lay the groundwork for how to source and recycle packaging, these initiatives could very well have a ripple effect that spreads out to other businesses. From reducing or removing plastic bag usage, to recycling all consumable packaging, that could have a very wide impact on the bottom line, the economy, and on how much waste businesses out there create.