Aldi to charge shoppers 25p for reusable fruit and veg bags as it scraps free plastic ones

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ALDI is scrapping free plastic bags for loose fruit and vegetables and instead charging shoppers 25p for a reusable one.

The discounter has pledged to remove the single-use plastic bags from all 900 stores by the end of the year.

The reusable fruit and veg bag is made from recycled plastic bottles

Shoppers who want to put the the loose goods in a bag will have buy a reusable one.

The draw-string knapsacks are made from recycled bottles but customers will be charged a fee if they want one.

They’ll also have to remember to bring it every time they shop or else face purchasing a new one.

The decision follows a successful trial in 100 stores across the Midlands earlier this year.

The discounter says the environmentally driven move will save more than 100 tonnes of plastic a year from going to waste.

Aldi has already banned single-use plastic carrier bags, meaning that by 2021 the only plastic bags available to customers will be 10p reusable ones.

But some supermarkets have gone even further to get rid of plastic bags completely.

Morrisons has said it will replace all plastic bags for life with paper ones that cost 30p if its trial in eight stores is successful.

It follows a test in Iceland stores last year that banned all plastic bags, unless customers brought their own.

In July, Aldi pledged to halve the volume of plastic packaging used in stores by 2025 in a bid to remove 74,000 tonnes of plastic packaging during the next fives years.

It previously announced plans for all own-label products recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022, and branded products sold in stores by 2025.

Chris McKenry, plastics and packaging director at Aldi, said: “We’ve already made good headway with removing and replacing avoidable plastics across our product range, but now it is time to step things up when it comes to bags and providing our customers with sustainable alternatives.”

This week, a ban on straws, cotton buds and coffee stirrers in England came into force in a bid to tackle single-use plastic pollution.

The ban was announced in 2018 and was due to come into affect in April this year but was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Scotland had already slapped a ban on the products, which too effect from October last year.

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