Aldi is to save approximately 265 tonnes of plastic a year as it starts to use recyclable clear trays containing its fresh fruit and vegetables.

The supermarket is phasing out hard-to-recycle black plastic trays on a range of fresh produce and replacing them with clear, recyclable alternatives.

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.

This news comes as part of Aldi’s commitment to ensure all its packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

The new trays will be introduced to six ranges of Aldi’s fresh produce this month, including the retailer’s Piccolo Tomatoes, Specially Selected Sunstream Tomatoes, Specially Selected Mixed Baby Plum Tomatoes, Specially Selected Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Babycorn and Asparagus.

Babycorn is one of the products which will be presented in recyclable packaging.

At the same time, Aldi is also changing the packaging of its pasta pots to use 95% recycled material, cutting a further 139 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.”