Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd are switching their cotton buds to an ecological alternative: In future, the discounters will only sell cotton buds with a paper shaft and organic cotton in all shops. The plastic lid of the packaging has also been ecologically converted as part of the optimisation. This makes ALDI the first food retailer to offer its customers a completely sustainable option.
Material with FSC seal
The Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd Groups continue to consistently promote the Reducing the amount of plastic one: As part of the ALDI packaging mission, the discounters are phasing out cotton buds with plastic shafts and replacing them with a sustainable product.
The new cotton swab has a FSC-certified paper stock and a cotton wool head that is 100 per cent made of Organic cotton from controlled organic cultivation. By dispensing with plastic shafts, Aldi saves around 380 tonnes of plastic every year.
The packaging of the new cotton buds is also completely plastic-free: The Full cardboard box consists entirely of FSC-certified paper. After the changeover in both corporate groups, the elimination of the plastic lid will result in an additional annual plastic reduction of more than 70 tonnes. In total, Aldi will save more than 450 tonnes of plastic per year as a result of the changeover.
Early product changeover
Aldi Nord's own-brand Biocura sustainable cotton buds are now available in all shops.
„With the new cotton buds, we are already the first food retailer to offer our customers an all-round sustainable alternative.“
Erik Hollmann, Director Corporate Responsibility & Quality Assurance at Aldi Nord
In doing so, the companies are consciously reacting early to the Requirements of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, according to which cotton buds with a plastic shaft will be banned from 2021. According to the European Commission, these are among the tenth most common types of plastic waste found in the sea.
„As part of the ALDI packaging mission, we are delighted that we will also be doing away with plastic lids in the future after doing away with plastic shafts.“
Julia Adou, Director Corporate Responsibility at Aldi Süd
The company had already replaced the plastic shaft with a paper shaft at the beginning of this year. From spring 2020, the cotton buds will also be available in the new ecological packaging will be available under the own brand Lacura in all Aldi Süd shops.
The Campaign logo The Aldi packaging mission with the claim „plastic-free“ on the packaging of the new cotton buds shows customers transparently that the product contains no plastic. In addition, the product is labelled with the Aldi Separation note which shows consumers the correct way to dispose of the packaging.
The Aldi packaging mission
As part of the Aldi Packaging Mission, the Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd corporate groups have set themselves consistent targets: By 2025, the use of materials for all own-brand product packaging - relative to sales - is to be reduced by 30 per cent. In addition, by 2022 100 per cent of private label packaging is recyclable be.
Source: Aldi Nord Group, Aldi Süd Group
