ALDI’S four stores in Warrington are joining the fight against plastic.

The discount supermarket giant has announced plans to save around 265 tonnes of plastic a year as it starts to use recyclable clear trays on its fresh fruit and vegetables.

The store will phase out the black plastic trays, which are hard to recycle, and use clear, recyclable alternatives instead as part of its commitment to ensure all its packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

The new trays will be introduced on six ranges of fresh produce this month and will save an estimated 265 tonnes of plastic a year.

Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said: “Cutting waste is part of Aldi’s DNA and we have a longstanding commitment to minimise our impact on the environment.

“That’s why we are doing all we can to cut the amount of unnecessary packaging and plastics we use and are working to ensure all our packaging can be either reused, recycled or composted by 2025.

“One part of that is to prevent plastic going to landfill by using materials that are easier to recycle – like these clear trays – but also to ensure that there is a demand for recycled plastic by using it in products like our pasta pots.”

Black plastic cannot be identified by the machinery used to sift through household waste and, as a result, is often diverted to landfill or burned for energy instead of being recycled.

At the same time, Aldi is also changing the packaging of its pasta pots to use 95 per cent recycled material, cutting a further 139 tonnes of plastic a year.

The new clear trays were introduced for some tomatoes and specially selected purple sprouting broccoli in July and are being introduced on its fresh babycorn and asparagus last month.