LIDL GB REMOVES ONE BILLION PIECES OF PLASTIC

• Lidl removes over one billion pieces of plastic as part of its strategy to eliminate plastic waste
• Retailer prevents equivalent of 10 million water bottles from entering the ocean through use of ocean-bound plastics
• Discounter pledges to eliminate 1.5 billion pieces of plastic by the end of 2021 and 2 billion pieces by the end of 2022

29th July 2021: Lidl GB has today announced it has removed over one billion pieces of plastic from stores across Great Britain as part of its strategy to eliminate plastic waste and support the continued reduction of plastic globally.

This includes more than 24 million plastic trays and punnets being removed from its fruit and vegetable ranges, and up to 25 million plastic lids from dairy and yoghurt ranges. In addition, the discounter has cut nearly 19 million plastic tags from its fruit and vegetable lines, and 3.5 million pieces of plastic packaging on fresh flowers.

Lidl GB has also committed to building on this success, by pledging to remove 1.5 billion pieces of plastic by the end of 2021 and 2 billion pieces by the end of 2022.

The milestone comes as Lidl GB has prevented the equivalent of ten million water bottles from entering the world’s oceans since last year through its use of ocean-bound plastic packaging. Following the success of the initiative, which was a supermarket first, Lidl is expanding its use of the packaging innovation to prevent plastic, collected from developing countries in South East Asia, from entering the ocean. The ocean-bound plastic, which is already used in packaging across fresh fish and breaded poultry, will also be launched across berry packaging later this year.

Christian Härtnagel, CEO at Lidl GB, said: “It is fantastic that we have been able to reach this significant milestone which demonstrates our commitment to tackling excessive plastic waste and working collaboratively with all of our suppliers.

“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.”

This builds on Lidl’s existing plastic commitments to make 100% of own brand packaging widely recyclable, reusable or refillable by 2025. This year, Lidl hit its target of ensuring 50% of packaging is made from recycled materials, four years ahead of plan, whilst it also reduced plastic by 18.5%, on track to reach its original target to reduce by 20% by 2022. Lidl also met its target of eliminating problematic plastic packaging (including black plastic, PVC and EPS) from its own label core food range and ensuring that 100% of pulp and fibre-based own label packaging in core food range are either responsibly sourced from FSC, PEFC, or equivalent, or made using recycled content.

-ENDS-

About Lidl GB

Since establishing itself in Great Britain in 1994, Lidl has experienced continuous growth and today has over 25,000 employees, over 860 stores and 13 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales.

As part of the Schwarz retail group, Lidl is one of Europe’s leading organisations in the food retail industry. With a presence in 32 countries around the world, the supermarket, which has more than 310,000 employees globally, currently operates approximately 11,200 stores and more than 200 warehouses and distribution centres.

The family supermarket takes pride in providing its customers with the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices throughout Great Britain, from Kirkwall to the Isle of Wight. Social responsibility and sustainability are at the core of the company's daily operations, with the company placing a strong emphasis on its responsibility for people, society and the environment. Lidl GB is passionate about working with British producers and sources two thirds of its products from British suppliers.

The Schwarz Group, which operates worldwide as a retail group, generated a turnover of €113.3 billion in the financial year 2019.

For more information about Lidl GB visit https://corporate.lidl.co.uk/

About REset Plastic
The Schwarz Group with its two retail group companies, Lidl and Kaufland, is one of the biggest international retailers. It is aware of its responsibility towards the environment and takes it on. With REset Plastic, the Group has developed a holistic internationally applied strategy compromising five action areas: from avoidance and design to recycling and removal up to innovation and education. In doing so the vision of “less plastic- closed loops” will become reality.

The five guiding principles of the action areas of “REset Plastic – the plastics strategy of the Schwarz Group”:

Reduce - We reduce – wherever sustainably possible – plastic. Not only in packaging!

Redesign - We design recyclable packaging and close loops.

Recycle - We collect, sort and recycle plastic to close the loop.

Remove - We support the removal of plastic waste from the environment.

Research - We invest in research and the development of innovative solutions and educate on recycling.

Learn more: https://reset-plastic.com/en/

Project STOP
The Schwarz Group is also a proud technical partner of Project STOP (Stop Ocean Plastic). STOP is a leading initiative aimed at preventing plastic waste reaching the oceans and cooperates primarily with local communities in Indonesia in order to develop efficient waste management systems on the ground.