Aldi switches to 100% recyclable pizza discs

Discount supermarket Aldi has introduced fully recyclable pizza discs across its entire range, as part of the supermarket's aim to ensure all own-label product packaging is 100% recyclable by 2022.


The discs will be made from cardboard instead of polystyrene, saving 100 tonnes of plastic from circulation, and 500 fewer truck journeys a year to transport the waste.

Aldi is also making its ‘Thin & Crispy’ pizza cartons smaller, without reducing the size of the pizza. This move will cut the amount of cardboard used by 73 tonnes a year, Aldi claims.

“Polystyrene pizza discs are a serial offender when it comes to waste packaging, so it’s important that we tackle this issue directly,” Aldi’s managing director of corporate responsibility Fritz Walleczek said.

“This move is one part of a much larger campaign to reduce our environmental impact wherever possible – be that food waste, packaging or emissions.”

As part of its overarching packaging strategy, launched in March this year, Aldi has pledged to scrap all single-use plastic bags by the end of 2018. In place of carrier bags, the UK’s fastest growing supermarket will offer customers bags for life as reusable 9p bags made from back-of-store plastic waste.

The discount chain is switching a range of its cooked meat from non-recyclable packaging to clear, recyclable alternatives in a move that is set to save more than 1,000 tonnes of plastic annually.

The move from Aldi comes shortly after the chain began removing black plastic from its fresh produce ranges, in a move the company claims will save around 265 tonnes of plastic a year. Aldi joined the likes of the Co-opLidl and Quorn in publicly announcing plans to phase-out or reduce black plastic use, after signing up to WRAP’s Plastic Pact earlier this year.

George Ogleby

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