Our commitment - Reduce and recycle. REset
Our goals
In 2018 we set ourselves 3 ambitious targets to drive improvements to our product range on plastic reduction, recyclability and circularity. Since launching the programme and due to strong focus on packaging within our buying processes, we have made strong progress across all areas and decided to set ourselves 8 new ambitious goals in August 2020 to evolve our approach. Through these new goals we continue to challenge ourselves to achieve greater reductions in plastics and scale up our impact across new packaging materials and formats.
Find out about our progress against our old and new targets in the tables below:
Now three years into our ‘Circular Motion’ strategy, our work to date has shown how making Lidl Changes for the Better can add up to significant positive change.
70t of plastic removed
70t of plastic removed from milk bottles, with bottles containing up to 30% recycled content
Removing plastic trays
Removing plastic trays across our fruit and veg range, including tomatoes, tenderstem broccoli, asparagus and baby corn
Tags removed
Removed tags from fruit & veg, including our spring onions and bunched beetroot
Pizza bases replaced with cardboard
18t of expanded polystyrene pizza bases replaced with cardboard
100% recycled content
Up to 100% recycled content in trigger spray cleaning bottles and egg boxes
Prevented Ocean Plastics
First adopter of Prevented Ocean Plastics, avoiding 10 million water bottles from entering the marine environment to date
Driving circularity
Driving circularity by incorporating recycled content, with up to 50% recycled content across our drinks range
Removing overlids
We are removing overlids from pots in Dairy, working to remove up to 38 million pieces of plastic from the category
Problem plastic
Removed 2,000 tonnes of problem plastics from our shelves, including black plastic, PVC and EPS
Plastic Straws
Removed 67m single use plastic straws from our beverage cartons
Plastic cotton bud stems
Removed 570m plastic stems from our cotton buds
Plastic forks
Removed 8m single use plastic forks from our salads ranges
MEASURING OUR PLASTIC PACKAGING FOOTPRINT
Breakdown of plastic packaging by polymer type in 2019
TACKLING OCEAN PLASTICS
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.
Our partners