Aldi has removed almost 2,000 tonnes of plastic from its shelves, and has lowered its overall plastic use by 10 per cent in its fresh produce range, in the last year.

According to the supermarket, 84 per cent of packaging across its supply chain is now recyclable, reusable or compostable, and use of items that are difficult to recycle – such as black meat trays – has been halved.

Daniel Baker, Aldi’s director of corporate responsibility, said the business’ customers have likely already noticed the change in their weekly shop.

“Australian grocery buyers are informed and want to be able to make conscious purchasing decisions,” Baker said.

“Shoppers may have noticed changes, [and while] these may seem like small changes they add up to make a big difference. The next few years will see us continue to remove plastics from our range and by 2025 all remaining packaging will be either recyclable, reusable or compostable.”

Aldi has been improving its sustainable offering this year, recently signing up to the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and supporting the Australia Dairy Sustainable Packaging Roadmap, while also hitting its goal of being 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.

“Collectively, we have a huge task ahead of us to achieve the 2025 National Packaging Targets,” said APCO chief executive officer Brooke Donnelly.

“However, it is fantastic to see ALDI step up to address this challenge through implementing solutions to reduce and improve the recyclability of packaging within their supply chain.”