Optimising packaging and tackling food waste – ALDI Belgium and ALDI Luxembourg

ALDI Belgium and ALDI Luxembourg take a holistic view of sustainability from eco-friendly packaging to reducing food waste, through renewable energy to a responsible product range.

Our stores continue to optimise product packaging. One example is replacement of the plastic bag on our ALDI Délipain brioches with a smaller flow pack. We also removed the metal clip and these two measures resulted in annual savings of 1,460 kilogrammes of plastic and metal. Improvements were also made on the recyclability front by eliminating black carbon plastic and identifying the remaining non-recyclable packaging for replacement as soon as possible.

In 2023, 385 of our stores donated surplus food to charities, representing an increase of 38 percentage points compared to the project launch in 2018. We try to donate as many edible products as possible to food banks. This focus was highlighted by organising a workshop for our district managers at all ALDI Belgium regional headquarters.  

In 2023, our CO₂e emissions were reduced by 19.5 per cent compared to 2020. All refrigeration and freezing equipment in our stores and distribution centres are to operate with natural refrigerants so as to achieve further emission reductions by 2030. In 2023, all of our freezers and approximately 20 per cent of our in-store refrigeration units had already been upgraded. Four of our seven distribution centres are also using entirely natural coolants. In 2023, we equipped over 138 stores with solar panels, and 7.8 per cent of the total energy consumed was covered by our own generated solar energy.

Workshops were organised with category managers and Fairtrade Belgium in 2023 with the aim of exploring opportunities to expand our assortment with Fairtrade-certified products. In 2023, the Belgian retail commitment to living wages in the banana sector came into effect. This is an initiative introduced by a retail coalition to close the living wage gap for banana workers by 2027.