Lidl claims to remove one billion pieces of plastic from stores

The supermarket has pledged to double this figure by 2022

A person carrying a Lidl shopping bag (Getty Images)

Lidl has claimed to have removed more than one billion pieces of plastic from its stores in a bid to eliminate its plastic waste.

The German supermarket announced that it has withdrawn 24 million plastic trays and punnets from its fruit and vegetable ranges, and up to 25 million plastic lids from its dairy products.

It will also cease all use of plastic packaging on fresh flowers and plastic tags on its fruit and vegetables.

The move comes as part of the retailer’s pledge to remove 1.5 billion pieces of plastic from its stores by the end of this year, and two billion pieces by the end of 2022.

In February, Lidl announced that it would only be using “ocean-bound” plastic in its packaging. This is plastic that would otherwise end up polluting the ocean, which is gathered before it reaches the water and then recycled and turned into resin.

Christian Härtnagel, chief executive at Lidl, said the removal of the plastic demonstrates the supermarket’s “commitment to tackling excessive plastic waste”.

“We recognise, however, there is still more to do in this area which is why we are pushing to go further by removing even more pieces of plastic from our stores and packaging over the next two years and rolling out our leading ocean-bound plastic packaging across more and more categories in our stores,” he said.

A report by Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency, released in January, found that in 2019, UK supermarkets produced almost 900,000 tonnes of plastic packaging.

While this figure was a small decrease from 2018 – less than 2 per cent – it was up 1.2 per cent from 2017.

Of the top 10 supermarkets in the UK, Lidl ranked at fourth place for its plastic use. Waitrose ranked as the most plastic-conscious, followed by Aldi and then Marks & Spencer.

The report also examined changes in the use of plastic during 2020, and how this was impacted by the pandemic. It found that panic buying, an increase in demand and issues with supply chains, forced many supermarkets to loosen packaging requirements.

This meant that non-recyclable black plastic and plastic egg boxes were used more frequently, however original packaging requirements have since returned.

There was also a drop in sales of loose fruit and vegetables. Greenpeace said this was likely due to fear of the virus being on the produce, though the government has advised it is “very unlikely” you can catch the virus from food.

Positively, the disruption also led to a decreased use of in plastic in some products. “Pieces of packaging like yoghurt pot lids became unavailable, which helped supermarkets to realise that they weren’t necessary after all,” Greenpeace said.