Plastics & Packaging

We are acutely aware of the important role that packaging plays protecting food, keeping it safe and minimising food waste. Equally, we have long been committed to tackling the important issue of plastic waste, and the detrimental impact that this is having on the environment, especially our oceans.

Systemic change is urgently needed to tackle both food and plastic waste in tandem. It’s why we have launched our sustainable packaging and plastic strategy ‘Circular Motion’, committing to making Lidl Changes for the Better.

Circular Motion is based around five streams:

• Reduce – if plastic is not needed, we’ll opt for an alternative material, but where it’s needed, we’ll avoid unnecessary or excessive packaging
• Recycle – design our packaging with end-of-life in mind, ensuring it is easier to recycle, and champion recycled content and the circular shift
• Reuse – investigate reusable and refillable options, either instore for our customers to use or as products
• Engage – talk to our customers on pack, through media, be transparent on our progress, what we’re doing and the changes we're making
• Collaborate – work collectively with our suppliers, packaging suppliers, NGOs, government and customers to drive this shift

Find out more about how we make our packaging decisions here.

We recognise the key role that our business plays in tackling the detrimental impact that plastic is having on our oceans, that is why in early 2020 we were the first GB retailer to introduce Prevented Ocean Plastic into our packing, preventing 10 million water bottles from entering the ocean in our first year. Further information is available here.

We are committed to sourcing 100% of our wild caught seafood from MSC certified sources and are proud to have won the MSC mid-sized retailer of the year for five years running for our commitments to sustainable seafood. Therefore all fishing operations in our supply chain are required to meet, and are assessed against, the following standards:

• Make use of fishing gear and practices designed to avoid the capture of non-target species and non-target size, age, and/or sex of the target species);  minimise mortality of this catch where it cannot be avoided, and reduce discards of what cannot be released alive
• Implement appropriate fishing methods designed to minimise adverse impacts on habitat, especially in critical or sensitive zones such as spawning and nursery areas
• Minimise operational waste such as lost fishing gear, oil spills, on-board spoilage of catch, etc.

Our full policy on the responsible sourcing of fish and seafood can be downloaded here.

Additionally, we recognise that microplastics are another key contributor to ocean plastic pollution. A microplastic can be defined as a solid plastic particle that is not water soluble and is less than or equal to 5mm in size. Microplastics can be defined as primary or secondary. Primary microplastics are a manufactured plastic particle that are intentionally added to products such as shower gels and toothpastes. Secondary microplastics occur when larger plastics are broken down into smaller pieces.

For more information on what we are doing to tackle the negative environmental impacts caused by primary microplastics in our supply chain, download our full policy on microplastics here.