Sustainability through partnerships – developing environmentally friendly packaging to promote circular economy and improving animal welfare with farmers.
ALDI Nord Germany is working intensively on increasing the sustainability impact throughout the country. In 2018 ALDI developed and published the Packaging Mission for the own brands: the 'ALDI Verpackungsmission'. Since then, we have continued to work intensively with partners, such as suppliers and startups, to identify and optimise ideas for sustainable packaging and product solutions. Our goals are to make 100 per cent of our packaging recyclable by the end of 2022, and to reduce 30 per cent of our packaging material by the end of 2025, in relation to sales. In 2020, we will introduce the 'ALDI waste sorting symbol' for all own-brand product packaging to inform customers of the correct recycling methods.
A further important concern for German citizens, and for the ALDI companies, is animal welfare. Our aim is to provide customers with a broad choice of products with additional animal welfare benefits. In 2018, ALDI launched the animal welfare own brand Fair & Gut – which provides customers a third choice next to conventional and organic products. Over 240 farmers now produce fresh meat, sausage, eggs and dairy products for Fair & Gut. To offer our customers more transparency, we adopted the nationwide animal welfare labelling system 'Haltungsform', which denotes how animals are reared.
In addition to our individual efforts, we work on industry-wide initiatives such as the Initiative Tierwohl (Animal Welfare Initiative) and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. Since early 2020, our customers have been able to find textiles with the 'Grüner Knopf' (Green Button), as a further orientation aid for more sustainable textiles, on our shelves.
177 tonnes
less plastic each year
Throughout Germany, we save 177 tonnes of plastic every year by selling plastic-free cotton buds with plastic-free packaging – one of many measures that have led to a saving of more than 11,000 tonnes of plastic packaging weight for our own-brand products since 2015.
1 st place
vegan-friendly
In 2019, ALDI Nord Germany was awarded the title of most vegan-friendly discounter by the Albert Schweitzer Foundation. The foundation highlighted the large proportion of vegan products, the expanded labelling of beverages, and our 'Vegan Discovery Week'.
| Regional companies |
32 |
| Stores |
2,206 |
| Total ALDI employees |
37,788 |
| Year of market entry |
1961 |
| Website |
www.aldi-nord.de |
|
Goal |
Description and scope |
Status 2019 & next steps |
SDG |
|---|---|---|---|
|
30% less packaging by end of 2025 |
Reduction of the total weight of own-brand product packaging in Germany by 30% – proportional to sales – by end of 2025 (base year 2015) |
Project ongoing. |
|
|
100% recyclable packaging by end of 2022 |
100% of our own-brand product packaging in Germany recyclable by end of 2022 |
Project ongoing. |
|
|
Ban of single-use plastic products from the beginning of 2019 |
End the sale of single-use plastics within our own-brand products or special-buy ranges such as plates, cups, straws and cotton buds (excluding drinking straws on the drink pack) in Germany from the beginning of 2019 |
Goal achieved. |
|
|
Ban on microplastics in cosmetic products by end of 2022 |
Replacement of all own-brand cosmetic products with solid microplastics or liquid synthetic plastics in Germany with environmentally friendly alternatives by end of 2022 |
Project ongoing. |
|
|
Expansion of animal welfare own brand Fair & Gut by end of 2020 |
Expansion of availability of fresh poultry products in Germany from the animal welfare own brand Fair & Gut by end of 2020 |
Goal achieved. |
|
|
Expansion of the animal welfare labelling system (Haltungsform) |
Expansion of the animal welfare labelling system (Haltungsform) to other products and product groups in Germany |
New goal. |
|
|
Delisting of fresh meat products with Haltungsform 1 |
Delisting of fresh meat products with Haltungsform 1 in German stores and increasing the proportion of own-brand fresh meat products with the label Haltungsform 2, 3 or 4 |
Project ongoing. |
|
|
Expansion of ATC by end of 2019 |
Introduction of the ALDI Transparency Code (ATC) in Germany for own-brand products in at least one product group and increase in the number of fish products and products containing fish with the ATC by end of 2019 |
Goal achieved. |
|
Goal |
Description and scope |
Status 2019 & next steps |
SDG |
|---|---|---|---|
|
No chick culling in shell egg production by end of 2022 |
Gradually conversion of the entire supply chain for barn, free-range and organic eggs throughout Germany by end of 2022 to end the culling of male chicks in shell egg production |
New target. |
|
|
50% certified sustainable coffee by end of 2020 |
Transition to certified sustainable coffee (UTZ/Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, organic) for defined own-brand products in Germany |
Project ongoing.
|
|
|
Goal |
Description and scope |
Status 2019 & next steps |
SDG |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Increasing the own-use rate for the energy generated in-house |
Increasing the own-use rate for the energy generated in-house by photovoltaic systems at stores in Germany through combination with concepts for integrated cooling and heating systems, and demand-led alignment of the photovoltaic systems |
Project ongoing. |
|
|
100% use of propane as refrigerant
|
Gradual changeover of all plug-in chillers and freezers in Germany to the refrigerant propane (R290) with very low Global Warming Potential (GWP) |
Goal achieved. |
|
